About C. Elegans

Caenorhabditis elegans is a nematode usually found in temperate soil. It is transparent and approximately 1 mm in length. C. elegans has been used as a model organism since 1974. Its genomic sequencing was completed in 2002; C. elegans is the first multicellular organism to have its genome completely sequenced. The C. elegans genome is approximately 100 million base pairs in length and contains around 20,100 genesCite.

Why C. Elegans?

• C. elegans is eukaryotic.
• C. elegans is a multicellular organism, with different tissues that can be modified separately.

Links & Additional Resources

• [http://wormbook.org/ WormBook] is a great functional overview of worm physiology, with an emphasis on development.
• [http://wormatlas.org/ WormAtlas] is a great anatomical overview.
• [http://www.wormbook.org/wbg/ The Worm Breeder's Gazette] is a informal, non-refereed, biannual newsletter dedicated to C. elegans and other nematodes.
• [http://gfpworm.org/ GFPWorm] has visual information on C. elegans expression patterns.