title: Mating and male pheromone killCaenorhabditismales through distinct mechanisms.
abstract: Differences in longevity between sexes is a mysterious yet general phenomenon across great evolutionary distances. To test the roles of responses to environmental cues and sexual behaviors in longevity regulation, we examinedCaenorhabditismale lifespan under solitary, grouped, and mated conditions. We find that neurons and the germline are required for male pheromone-dependent male death. Hermaphrodites with a masculinized nervous system secrete male pheromone and are susceptible to male pheromone killing. Male pheromone-mediated killing is unique to androdioeciousCaenorhabditis, and may reduce the number of males in hermaphroditic populations; neither males nor females of gonochoristic species are susceptible to male pheromone killing. By contrast, mating-induced death, which is characterized by germline-dependent shrinking, glycogen loss, and ectopic vitellogenin expression, utilizes distinct molecular pathways and is shared between the sexes and across species. The study of sex- and species-specific regulation of aging reveals deeply conserved mechanisms of longevity and population structure regulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and LSI Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, United States.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0365-8273
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and LSI Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, United States.
authors.forename: Alexi M
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8592-1444
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Runnels
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and LSI Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, United States.
authors.forename: Coleen T
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8257-984X
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Murphy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000502:physiology*; D008136:Longevity; D008297:Male; D010675:Pheromones / Q000378:metabolism*; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal
chemical_list: D010675:Pheromones
keywords: C. elegans; Caenorhabditis; aging; developmental biology; evolutionary biology; genomics; germline; male; mating; pheromone; stem cells