Structures of ascarosides.

<p>Structures of published ascarosides.</p

Dispersal assay.

<p>(A) Naturally dispersing infective juveniles (IJ) of <i>S. feltiae</i> from an insect cadaver. (B) Approximately 300 IJs were placed on an agar plate in water. (C) IJs were treated with either water (control) or insect cadaver extract. Images are representative of six experiments for each treatment. (D) Dispersal assay on the same plate. The illustration represents two experiments. Behavior is temperature and season dependent. Assays were conducted at RT (22±0.5°C) or under temperature controlled conditions.</p

An ascaroside blend regulates <i>C. elegans</i> dispersal behavior, and the dispersal blend is recognized by other nematodes.

<p>(A) Identification of the dispersal blend. Images (∼250 nematodes) are representative of 9, 10, and 11 experiments of control (0.25% <i>E. coli</i> (HB101)), synthetic blend with 0.25% <i>E. coli</i> (HB101) and dauer supernatant, respectively. (B) Quantification using Image J (<a href="http://rsbweb.nih.gov/ij/download.html" target="_blank">http://rsbweb.nih.gov/ij/download.html</a>). Control vs synthetic blend student's t-test unpaired (p<0.02). (C) <i>S. feltiae</i> IJs (∼250) response to the dispersal blend; four experiments for each treatment. (D) Response of root-knot J2s (<i>Meloidogyne</i> spp., mixture of <i>M. incognita</i>, <i>M. javanica</i>, and <i>M. floridensis</i>) to the <i>C. elegans</i> dispersal blend. The data represent 19 and 20 experiments from control water and <i>C. elegans</i> dispersal blend, respectively. At 2 h, using a student's t-test, unpaired, p<0.007.</p

Activity guided fractionation of the <i>S. feltiae</i> dispersal pheromone.

<p>(A) Reverse phase (C18) chromatography of insect cadaver extract. The image represents two independent experiments. The estimated physiologically relevant concentration was used in the assays; Frc, fraction. (B) Testing physiologically relevant concentration of ascarosides found in Frc A (ascr#9, 40.3 pmol/µl and ascr#11, 1.3 pmol/µl). Image represents three experiments. (C) Ascr#2 and ascr#9 are structural analogs. Natural and synthetic ascr#9 were tested in combination with fraction B and C. Image represents four experiments. (D) Structure of ascr#11. It (1.3 pmol/µl) is also sufficient to cause dispersal in combination with fractions B and C. Image represents three experiments.</p