{
  "abstract": "Plant-parasitic nematodes cause extensive crop losses that threaten global food security and create substantial economic hardship, yet strategies for their control remain limited. Although plant-parasitic nematodes have life cycles that mirror those of their free-living and animal-parasitic relatives, comparatively little is known about the signals that drive life-cycle progression. Dafachronic acids (DAs) are steroid hormones that control life cycle by activating DAF-12 nuclear receptors in Caenorhabditis elegans and animal-parasitic nematodes. To define whether an analogous pathway exists in plant-parasitic nematodes, we investigated the responsiveness of DAF-12 orthologs from six plant-parasitic nematode species to {Delta}7-DA, an endogenous DAF-12 ligand in C. elegans and several animal-parasitic nematodes. We find that whereas some plant-parasitic nematode receptors are activated by {Delta}7-DA, others are not. Structural modeling of all six ligand-binding domains, together with docking of {Delta}7-DA into each model, indicates that responsiveness is governed by a combinatorial ligand-recognition network surrounding the ligand carboxylate rather than by any single contact residue. We further demonstrate that egg and second-stage juvenile extracts from the soybean cyst nematode, Heterodera glycines, lack detectable DA but contain distinct lipophilic fractions that activate its DAF-12 ortholog. Together, these findings suggest that many plant-parasitic nematodes utilize endogenous DAF-12 ligands that are structurally distinct from DA. Uncovering modulators of this pathway could lead to new strategies to combat nematode-driven crop loss.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 14,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Y. Liu"
    },
    {
      "name": "C.-W. Fan"
    },
    {
      "name": "Z. Wang"
    },
    {
      "name": "G. Wendt"
    },
    {
      "name": "L. G. Zacharias"
    },
    {
      "name": "J. G. McDonald"
    },
    {
      "name": "Y. Li"
    },
    {
      "name": "S.-Y. Shen"
    },
    {
      "name": "H. E. Xu"
    },
    {
      "name": "J. J. Collins"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "S. A. Kliewer"
    },
    {
      "name": "M. G. Mitchum"
    },
    {
      "name": "D. J. Mangelsdorf"
    },
    {
      "name": "T. P. Mathews"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0ewzts6wnsb29.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.09.03.748874",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.03.748874v1.full",
  "id": "0ewzts6wnsb29",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.03.748874v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "molecular biology"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1110|Nematode management and characterization studies"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7211906073",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.03.748874v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-03",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0ewzts6wnsb29.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:58Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.09.03.748874",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.03.748874v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biochemistry",
      "origin": "biorxiv:molecular biology",
      "subfield": "molecular-biology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Conservation of Nuclear Receptor DAF-12 with Evidence for Ligand Diversification in Plant-Parasitic Nematodes",
  "title_text": "Conservation of Nuclear Receptor DAF-12 with Evidence for Ligand Diversification in Plant-Parasitic Nematodes",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:19:58Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0ewzts6wnsb29",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}