The search for novel pheromones, hormones, and other types of natural products in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has accelerated over the last 10-15 years. Many of these natural products perturb fundamental processes such as developmental progression, metabolism, reproductive and somatic aging, and various behaviors and have thus become essential tools for probing these processes, which are difficult to study in higher organisms. Furthermore, given the similarity between C. elegans and parasitic nematodes, these natural products could potentially be used to manipulate the development and behavior of parasitic nematodes and target the infections caused by them.

中文翻译：

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天然产物作为解剖线虫中复杂生物学的化学工具。

在过去的10到15年中，在线虫秀丽隐杆线虫中寻找新的信息素，激素和其他类型的天然产物的速度加快了。这些天然产物中的许多扰乱了基本过程，例如发育进程，新陈代谢，生殖和躯体衰老以及各种行为，因此已成为探测这些过程的重要工具，这在高级生物中很难研究。此外，鉴于秀丽隐杆线虫和寄生线虫之间的相似性，这些天然产物可潜在地用于操纵寄生线虫的发育和行为，并靶向由它们引起的感染。