C. elegans is easy to study:
- small size
- about
1 mm long--small enough to observe an entire animal by electron
microscopy
- takes up very little laboratory space
- takes up very little laboratory space
- about
1 mm long--small enough to observe an entire animal by electron
microscopy
- transparent
- can observe
entire internal anatomy in living specimens
- can observe
entire internal anatomy in living specimens
- simple
body plan
- Simple
nervous, muscle, digestive, and reproductive systems
- Simple
nervous, muscle, digestive, and reproductive systems
- easy to
culture
- Eat bacteria
plated on Petri dishes or in liquid media
- Thrive at room temperature
- Thrive at room temperature
- Eat bacteria
plated on Petri dishes or in liquid media
- can be
kept alive frozen
- Allows
them to be kept indefinitely without having to grow them
- Minimizes spontaneous mutations arising over time
- Minimizes spontaneous mutations arising over time
- Allows
them to be kept indefinitely without having to grow them
- short generation
time
- About
3 days from egg hatching to egg laying
- About
3 days from egg hatching to egg laying
- many progeny
- About
300 progeny from a single hermaphrodite
- About
300 progeny from a single hermaphrodite
- small genome
size
- 100 million
base pairs
- 100 million
base pairs
- selfing
and outcross genetics
- Self-fertilization
by hermaphrodites allows for rapid inbreeding and homozygosing
of recessive mutations.
- Outcrossing by mating between hermaphrodites and males allows for recombination of genetic traits.
- Outcrossing by mating between hermaphrodites and males allows for recombination of genetic traits.
- Self-fertilization
by hermaphrodites allows for rapid inbreeding and homozygosing
of recessive mutations.
- transformation
systems are available
- Gene function
can be tested directly by introducing foreign DNA
- Gene function
can be tested directly by introducing foreign DNA
- transposons
are available
- Tagging
genes by transposon mutagenesis allows for rapid gene cloning.
- Tagging
genes by transposon mutagenesis allows for rapid gene cloning.
C. elegans sperm are particularly easy to study:
- sperm can
be easily isolated from all other cells
- Unlike
most other cells, which come attached in tissues, sperm are unattached
from other cells.
- Unlike
most other cells, which come attached in tissues, sperm are unattached
from other cells.
- sperm cells
are present in large numbers
- Each male
makes several thousand sperm, more than the number of all the
other cells in his body.
- It is easy to purify huge numbers of sperm for biochemical analysis.
- It is easy to purify huge numbers of sperm for biochemical analysis.
- Each male
makes several thousand sperm, more than the number of all the
other cells in his body.
- mutants
affecting sperm development are easy to isolate and study
- Spermatogenesis-defective
hermaphrodites are self-sterile, but fertile if mated to a non-mutant
male.
- Spermatogenesis-defective
hermaphrodites are self-sterile, but fertile if mated to a non-mutant
male.
- spermatogenesis
can be observed entirely within a single testis
- Sperm
development proceeds in a temporal and spatial order along the
tube-shaped testis, from the earliest stages at one end, to the
most mature stages at the other. All of this can be observed in
a single microscope field.
- Sperm
development proceeds in a temporal and spatial order along the
tube-shaped testis, from the earliest stages at one end, to the
most mature stages at the other. All of this can be observed in
a single microscope field.
- spermatogenesis
can be observed in vitro
- Every
stage of sperm development can proceed and be observed under a
microscope even in a testis that has been removed from the worm.
- Every
stage of sperm development can proceed and be observed under a
microscope even in a testis that has been removed from the worm.
C. elegans is well characterized:
- cell lineage is invariate and completely mapped
- genome is >95% mapped and 81% sequenced
- many genes are represented by mutations
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All Contents Copyright © 2000. All rights reserved.
Last Modified: July 6, 1998
Paul Muhlrad pmuhlrad@u.arizona.edu