C. elegans Genome, Comparative Sequencing

Definition

Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is a small, free‐living nematode found commonly in many parts of the world. It is 1 mm long and has a life cycle of 3-4 days at 20°C. C. elegans is a bacteriovore and feeds mainly on Escherichia coli under laboratory conditions. It exists as two sexes, as hermaphrodites and males. The hermaphrodite produces both sperm and oocytes and reproduces by self‐fertilisation. Spontaneous males are very rare and occur at a frequency of 10^-3 to 10^-4. During its reproductive life span, a hermaphrodite lays around 300 eggs. This number is controlled since sperm is the limiting factor during self‐fertilisation. Freshly hatched eggs undergo four larval stages (L1-L4), punctuated by moults. The adult arising after the fourth larval moult is reproductively mature for about four days and lives for an additional ten days.

Characteristics

The success of the worm as a model system in modern biology lies in its easy