Timing is everything: Researchers describe genetic clockwork in germ cell development
(PHYSorg.com Biology)

The nematode C. elegans is a true organizational talent: The tiny life forms, just one millimetre long, live for only two to three weeks, with sexual maturity lasting only four days. They nevertheless manage to generate over 300 offspring during this brief period. For this ambitious development programme to function optimally, a large number of processes must be synchronised within their cells. Geneticists at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) have deciphered a central signaling pathway that encodes and controls these processes. Their study was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).