Oxidation makes a germline

Food and sex go hand in hand, according to Yukimasa Shibata, Siegfried Hekimi, and colleagues (McGill University, Montreal, Canada). They find that worms that have less oxidation of certain lipoprotein particles—possibly an indicator of a slowed metabolism—have slowed development of their germline. Only when food is abundant and metabolism active would the germline get the stimulus to develop to maturity.

The proteins in question are vitellogenins: analogues of vertebrate apoB, a component of low-density lipoprotein (LDL). In the clk-1 worm mutant, an increase in the levels of an antioxidant results in less oxidation of lipoprotein. The result is a slowing in germline development.

The slowed development is reversed by blocking the production of lipoproteins, or by reestablishing a more normal level of oxidation by reactive oxygen species (ROS). “The degree of...