Nematodes, hormone-like molecules in tiny worms, work on the same line as certain human hormones - a finding that may one day prove to be useful to eliminate worm infections that tend to affect a third of the world population.
Researchers from the UT Southwestern discovered a molecule, which can be termed responsible to activate the genes involved in developing and reproducing Caenorhabditis elegans, a common research worm.
From UTSouthwestern.edu:
The experiments by Dr. Mangelsdorf’s team are related to how hormone-replacement therapy works in humans. For example, in patients with Addison’s disease, the adrenal glands do not produce enough of the steroids cortisol and aldosterone; in some cases, these glands produce none at all. Replacing the missing hormones through replacement therapy can relieve the symptoms of the disease, much as providing the missing ligand to the worms restored their normality.
“The conservation of this pathway is remarkable,” said Dr. Mangelsdorf, an investigator in UT Southwestern’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). “This line of investigation has been much sought-after in terms of how the DAF-12 protein works and whether it had a hormonal regulator. Mother Nature has used this system from the very simplest nematode worms up to humans, not only employing the same types of proteins to do the job, but also the same types of hormones.”
The dauer diapause occurs naturally in C. elegans when the worm senses from its environment that conditions are not favorable for maturing, such as when food is scarce. Dr. Mangelsdorf said cholesterol and other signals derived from the worm’s food source are required to launch the series of biochemical events leading to the production of the hormonal ligand and continued development. Without these environmental signals and the ligand to activate DAF-12, the worm’s life remains suspended.
The research was funded by HHMI, the Welch Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Jay and Betty Van Andel Foundation, the Department of Defense and the Glenn/AFAR Breakthroughs in Gerontology.
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