Symbiotic Stars in the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment Survey: The Case of LIN 358 and SMC N73 (LIN 445a)
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Most animals develop from juveniles, which cannot reproduce, to sexually mature adults. The most obvious signs of this transition are changes in body shape and size. However, changes also take place in the brain that enable the animals to adapt their behavior to the demands of adulthood. For example, fully fed adult male roundworms will leave a food source to search for mates, whereas juvenile males will continue feeding. The transition to sexual maturity needs to be carefully timed. Too early, and the animal risks compromising key stages of development. Too late, and the animal may be less competitive in the quest for reproductive success. Cues in the environment, such as the presence of food and mates, interact with timing mechanisms in the brain to trigger sexual maturity. But how these mechanisms work – in particular where and how an animal keeps track of its developmental stage – is not well understood. In the roundworm species Caenorhabditis elegans, waves of gene activity, known collectively as the heterochronic pathway, determine patterns of cell growth as animals mature. Through further studies of these worms, Lawson et al. now show that these waves also control the time at which neural circuits mature. Inmore »