About the Authors

Fatma Kaplan

Affiliation Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, USDA-ARS, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America

Jagan Srinivasan

Affiliation Medical Institute and Biology Division, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, United States of America

Parag Mahanti

Affiliation Boyce Thompson Institute and Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America

Ramadan Ajredini

Affiliation Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, High Magnetic Field Laboratory, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America

Omer Durak

Affiliation Medical Institute and Biology Division, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, United States of America

Rathika Nimalendran

Affiliation Boyce Thompson Institute and Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America

Paul W. Sternberg

Affiliation Medical Institute and Biology Division, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, United States of America

Peter E. A. Teal

Affiliation Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, USDA-ARS, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America

Frank C. Schroeder

Affiliation Boyce Thompson Institute and Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America

Arthur S. Edison

Affiliation Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, High Magnetic Field Laboratory, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America

Hans T. Alborn

hans.alborn@ars.usda.gov

Affiliation Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, USDA-ARS, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: FK HTA JS PWS ASE FCS. Performed the experiments: FK HTA JS PM RA OD RN. Analyzed the data: FK JS HTA FCS ASE PEAT PWS. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: ASE FCS PWS HTA PEAT. Wrote the paper: FK JS HTA FCS ASE PEAT PWS. Collected nematode secretions in water or M9 buffer: FK RA RN. Collected nematode secretions in liquid culture: RA RN. Performed ascaroside extraction from nematodes: FK. Performed quantification of ascarosides by LC-MS: FK HTA. Designed the biological experiments: JS PWS. Performed all the biological experiments: JS OMD. Synthesized ascr#1, ascr#2, ascr#3, ascr#4 and ascr#8: FCS PM.