Document Type
Article
Original Publication Date
2014
Journal/Book/Conference Title
PLOS ONE
Volume
9
DOI of Original Publication
10.1371/journal.pone.0100580
Date of Submission
November 2014
Abstract
Abstract
At the end of the first larval stage, the C elegans larva chooses between two developmental pathways, an L2 committed to reproductive development and an L2d, which has the option of undergoing reproductive development or entering the dauer diapause. I develop a quantitative model of this choice using mathematical tools developed for pricing financial options. The model predicts that the optimal decision must take into account not only the expected potential for reproductive growth, but also the uncertainty in that expected potential. Because the L2d has more flexibility than the L2, it is favored in unpredictable environments. I estimate that the ability to take uncertainty into account may increase reproductive value by as much as 5%, and discuss possible experimental tests for this ability.
Rights
Copyright: © 2014 Leon Avery. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Is Part Of
VCU Physiology and Biophysics Publications
Comments
Originally Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100580