Ode to a nematode In the pantheon of animal models upon which basic scientific research relies, no species stands taller (metaphorically speaking) than Caenorhabditis elegans, a tiny worm (just one millimeter in length) that is broadly used to study fundamental molecular, cellular and developmental  processes in animals. Nobel laureate Sidney Brenner was among the first to promote the nematode’s utility as a model organism in the early 1960s for a variety of reasons: It is simple. Its entire neural system consists of exactly 302 neurons. It’s easy and cheap to grow in large numbers – and you can freeze the worms, and then thaw them out for later use. And it’s transparent, making it all the easier to peer at the worm’s internal workings.  C. elegans was the first organism to have its genome completely sequenced in 1998. An adult hermaphrodite worm contains 20,470 protein-coding genes, only slightly less than the estimated total for a human being. In recent years, scientists have begun creating systemic catalogs of how these genes function and interact, not just in C. elegans but in other model organisms as well. Some of this research is being done by researchers Karen Oegema, PhD, a professor of cellular and molecular medicine and head of the Laboratory of Mitotic Mechanisms in the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at UC San Diego and her colleague, Rebecca Green, PhD. Rather than studying individual cells, Oegema, Green and co-workers look at the effect of gene inhibitions in the structure of a complex tissue. Sometimes, it results in an eye-popping picture. The image above reveals the architecture of C. elegans’ reproductive tissue – its gonads. Red fluorescent markers highlight cell boundaries; green markers indicate DNA.
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Ode to a nematode

In the pantheon of animal models upon which basic scientific research relies, no species stands taller (metaphorically speaking) than Caenorhabditis elegans, a tiny worm (just one millimeter in length) that is broadly used to study fundamental molecular, cellular and developmental  processes in animals.

Nobel laureate Sidney Brenner was among the first to promote the nematode’s utility as a model organism in the early 1960s for a variety of reasons: It is simple. Its entire neural system consists of exactly 302 neurons. It’s easy and cheap to grow in large numbers – and you can freeze the worms, and then thaw them out for later use. And it’s transparent, making it all the easier to peer at the worm’s internal workings. 

C. elegans was the first organism to have its genome completely sequenced in 1998. An adult hermaphrodite worm contains 20,470 protein-coding genes, only slightly less than the estimated total for a human being.

In recent years, scientists have begun creating systemic catalogs of how these genes function and interact, not just in C. elegans but in other model organisms as well. Some of this research is being done by researchers Karen Oegema, PhD, a professor of cellular and molecular medicine and head of the Laboratory of Mitotic Mechanisms in the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at UC San Diego and her colleague, Rebecca Green, PhD.

Rather than studying individual cells, Oegema, Green and co-workers look at the effect of gene inhibitions in the structure of a complex tissue. Sometimes, it results in an eye-popping picture. The image above reveals the architecture of C. elegans’ reproductive tissue – its gonads. Red fluorescent markers highlight cell boundaries; green markers indicate DNA.

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