The nematode worm is a staple of biological cogitation : It is used in research ranging from aging to nicotine dependency . The diminutive worms normally live in one of two states , either as gynandromorph or males . In the wild , the males are uncommon and not especially authoritative for sexual replication , but in the research lab scientist are able to easily multiply them . While doing this , they’ve discoveredthat differences in just one gene makes males more attractive to other male , who then go so far as to mate with them .
“ We find that variation in a single factor makes male worms attractive to other male worms , at least under very command and define conditions in the lab,”explainsMatthew Rockman , who co - authored the study detailing the gene stochastic variable published inCurrent Biology . “ Given how rare male person are , this attraction is probably never manifest in nature . But the finding still channelise to the way that sexual attracter in these worms is mediated by molecular biological science and forge by simple genetic differences among individual . ”
The sex purpose in nematode worms is a little dissimilar to ours , to say the least . While the majority of prison cell in most case-by-case worms are distaff , they are also able to produce sperm cell and self - fertilize . You might reckon that would make males obsolete , but alas some of the worms still incubate as male , and even though they ’re uncommon in the wild , they can still mate with the hermaphrodites and produce young . In fact , interestingly , hermaphrodites actually grow more orchis if they ’ve mate with a male person than if they ’ve self - fertilized .
It ’s been observed before that some male worms are seemingly attract to other males , and so the researcher make up one’s mind to look into why their sexual conduct take issue . Amazingly , they oversee to trace this back to a single factor , calledplep-1 . They found that males have a bun in the oven two copy of a mutation in plep-1 pull in other male , which then sidle up to the mutant and copulate with his excretory pore , located on the worm ’s neck . This behavior is really damaging to the mutant male person as their excretory pore gets plugged , make all sorting of difficulty when he then tries to mate with other intersex .
What exactly is making the males become more attractive still remains a mystery , but because the worms are so small , and scientists have been able to represent all 1,031 electric cell in their body , they do know that the plep-1 version is only state in a single prison cell – the excretory pore . The researchers have found this case particularly interesting because , while other behavioral sport in the worms have been attributable to single gene , this is the first time it ’s been found for sexual deportment .
GIF in text : grovel C. elegans . Ben Glodstien / Wikimedia Commons
