Is dauer pheromone of Caenorhabditis elegans really a pheromone?

Springer Science and Business Media LLC - Tập 91 - Trang 123-124 - 2004
M. E. Viney1, N. R. Franks1
1School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

Tóm tắt

Animals respond to signals and cues in their environment. The difference between a signal (e.g. a pheromone) and a cue (e.g. a waste product) is that the information content of a signal is subject to natural selection, whereas that of a cue is not. The model free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans forms an alternative developmental morph (the dauer larva) in response to a so-called ‘dauer pheromone’, produced by all worms. We suggest that the production of ‘dauer pheromone’ has no fitness advantage for an individual worm and therefore we propose that ‘dauer pheromone’ is not a signal, but a cue. Thus, it should not be called a pheromone.

Tài liệu tham khảo

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