Under environmental conditions which are favourable for reproduction, hatched larvae develop through four stages or molts, designated as L1 to L4. When conditions are stressed as in food insufficiency, C. elegans can enter an alternative third larval stage called the dauer state. Dauer is German for permanent. Dauer larvae are stress-resistant; they are thin and their mouths are sealed and cannot take in food, and they can remain in this stage for a few months.[14] Hermaphrodites produce all their sperm in the L4 stage (150 sperm per gonadal arm) and then produce only oocytes. The sperm cells are stored in the same area of the gonad as the oocytes until the first oocyte pushes the sperm into the spermatheca (a chamber wherein the oocytes become fertilized by the sperm).

larva Ce, C. elegans larval stage

Sirarat Sarntivijai