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Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is a free-living nematode (a roundworm), about 1 mm in length, which lives in a temperate soil environment. Research into the molecular and developmental biology of C. elegans began in 1965 by Sydney Brenner.

C. elegans is vermiform, bilateral in symmetry, with a cuticle integument, no segmentations, with four main epidermal cords and a fluid filled pseudocoelomate cavity. Members of the species also have an organ system and a closed circulatory system. They feed on microorganisms such as Escherichia coli bacteria. C. elegans has a male and hermaphrodite sex. The basic anatomy of C. elegans includues a mouth, pharynx, intestine, gonad, and collagenous cuticle. Males have a single-lobed gonad, vas deferens, and a tail specialized for mating. Hermaphrodites have two ovaries, oviducts, spermatheca, and a single uterus.

A basic description of the organisms’ life cycle is that C. elegans eggs are laid by the hermaphrodite. After hatching, they pass through four larval stages (L1-L4). When crowded or in the absence of food, C. elegans can enter an alternative third larval stage called dauer. Dauers are stress-resistant and do not age. Hermaphrodites produce sperm during the L4 stage, and lay eggs as adults. The male can inseminate the hermaphrodite, which will use male sperm preferentially. The average life span of the laboratory strain of C. elegans at 20 °C is about 2-3 weeks, and the generation time is only a few days.

C. elegans is used as a model organismA model organism is one that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the model organism will provide insight into the workings of other organisms. This works because evolution reu. Specimens are cheap and easy to maintain in the laboratory. C. elegans has been especially useful for studying cellular differentiationCellular differentiation is a concept from developmental biology describing the process by which cells acquire a " type". The morphology of a cell may change dramatically during differentiation, but the genetic material remains the same, with few exceptio, and was the first multicellular organism to have its genomeGenome is also a popular science book by Matt Ridley. In biology, the genome of an organism is a complete DNA sequence of one set of chromosomes; for example, one of the two sets that a diploid individual carries in every somatic cell. When people say tha completely sequencedFor the sense of "sequencing" used in electronic music, see the music sequencer article. In genetics and biochemistry, sequencing means to determine the primary structure (or primary sequence) of an unbranched biopolymer. Sequencing results in a symbolic. The finished genome sequence was published in 1998 although a number of small gaps were present (the last gap was finished by October 2002). The C. elegans genome sequence is approximately 100 million base pairIn genetics, two nucleotides on opposite complementary DNA or RNA strands that are connected via hydrogen bonds are called a base pair (often abbreviated bp). As DNA is usually double-stranded, the number of base pairs in the dsDNA strand equals the numbes long and contains more than 19,000 geneDNA and to a chromosome (right). Introns are regions often found in eukaryote genes which are removed in the splicing process: only the exons encode the protein. This diagram labels a region of only 40 or so bases as a gene. In reality many genes are muchs. Scientific curators continue to appraise the set of known genes, such that new gene predictions continue to be added and incorrect ones removed. In 2003, the genome sequence of the related nematode C. briggsae was also determined, allowing researchers to study the comparative genomics of these two organisms.

From a research perspective, C. elegans has the advantage of being a multicellular eukaryotic organism which is simple enough to be studied in great detail. The developmental fate of all of its 959 somatic cells has been mapped out. (There are originally 1090 cells but 131, of which most are neurons, are eliminated by apoptosis.) In addition, C. elegans is one of the simplest organisms with a nervous system. Research has explored the neural mechanisms responsible for two of C. elegans' more interesting behaviors: chemotaxis and thermotaxis. In addition, recent research at the University of Toronto has shown that the worm appears to be capable of a simple form of associative learning , with recall being dependent on the environmental context. This organism is the subject of a proposal which involves cataloguing its glycome.

In 2002, the Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to Sydney Brenner, H. Robert Horvitz and John Sulston for their work on the genetics of development and programmed cell death (PCD) in C. elegans. The are 3 genes involved in the PCD of the 131 cells previously introduced: ced-3 , ced-4 and ced-9 . Both ced-3 and ced-4 are actively bringing death to these cells since a knockout of these genes prevents the PCD of the cells. On the other hand, ced-9 is a pro-survival gene because it prevents the stimulation of the activation of ced-3 by ced-4.

C. elegans made news when it was discovered that specimens had survived the Space Shuttle Columbia's disintegration in February, 2003.

Loss of function mutations in daf-2, the C. elegans insulin receptor gene, have been shown to double the lifespan of the worm. This gene is involved in regulating resistance to oxidative stress.