Caenorhabditis elegans

Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is a transparent "model" nematode about 1 mm in length that is used extensively in biology research. In 1963, Sydney Brenner proposed C. elegans as a model organism. Brenner was a Nobel prize-winning biologist who saw the model of DNA that James Watson and Crick showed in March 1953 at Cavendish laboratory. As an adult, C. elegans consists of only about 1000 somatic cells and 1000–2000 germ cells (exactly 959 somatic cell nuclei plus about 2000 germ cells are counted in one sex; exactly 1031 somatic cell nuclei plus about 1000 germ cells in the other).[1] Each cell has been studied individually to some degree and this has lead to many insights into how multi-cellular organisms develop from a single zygote.

C. elegans made news when specimens were discovered to have survived atmospheric re-entry of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in February 2003.

## Notes[edit]

1. ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26861/