Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Male roundworms have been found to secrete signaling molecules that drastically shorten the lifespan of female roundworms.
A new study from Stanford University found that among laboratory roundworms or C. elegans, a species consisting of only males and hermaphrodites, the presence of a male worm resulted in a 20 percent shorter lifespan for females and hermaphrodites.
On average, males comprise about 0.01 to 0.1 percent of the roundworm population. While hermaphrodites can fertilize themselves, they produce more offspring if they mate with a male.
The exact mechanism of this process is not known yet, but researchers believe that the male secretes the molecules after copulation. They also found that just putting hermaphrodites on a plate previously occupied by males was sufficient to shorten their lives.
Researchers suggest that the male triggers the premature death of their female partners in order to conserve resources for the offspring and to restrict the mating pool for the other males.
"In worms, once the male has mated and eggs are produced, the hermaphrodite mother can be discarded," said Anne Brunet, PhD, associate professor of genetics.
"The C. elegans mother is not needed to care for the baby worms. Why should it be allowed to stay around and eat? Also, if she dies, no other male can get to her and thus introduce his genes into the gene pool," Brunet said.
[Science] [Stanford University School of Medicine]
