A Transparent window into biology: A primer on Caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract

A little over 50 years ago, Sydney Brenner had the foresight to develop the nematode (round worm) Caenorhabditis elegans as a genetic model for understanding questions of developmental biology and neurobiology. Over time, research on C. elegans has expanded to explore a wealth of diverse areas in modern biology including studies of the basic functions and interactions of eukaryotic cells, host-parasite interactions, and evolution. C. elegans has also become an important organism in which to study processes that go awry in human diseases. This primer introduces the organism and the many features that make it an outstanding experimental system, including its small size, rapid life cycle, transparency, and well-annotated genome. We survey the basic anatomical features, common technical approaches, and important discoveries in C. elegans research. Key to studying C. elegans has been the ability to address biological problems genetically, using both forward and reverse genetics, both at the level of the entire organism and at the level of the single, identified cell. These possibilities make C. elegans useful not only in research laboratories, but also in the classroom where it can be used to excite students who actually can see what is happening inside live cells and tissues.KEYWORDS C. elegans; nematodes; Primer; single-cell analysis; transparent genetic system

Caenorhabditis elegans PRMT-7 and PRMT-9 Are Evolutionarily Conserved Protein Arginine Methyltransferases with Distinct Substrate Specificities

“…11). We found that the C. elegans enzyme is active at the physiological growing temperatures for the nematode 31 , while the human enzyme is most active at the body’s expected physiological temperature of 37 °C 26 . These PRMT9 enzymes are active over a wider range of temperatures than the PRMT7 enzymes analyzed in Fig.…”

“…2 we noted the enzyme was much more active at 25 °C than at 30 °C. C. elegans is able to grow at a variety of temperatures ranging from 12 °C (slowest growing) to 25 °C (fastest growing), with most studies done at 20 °C 31 . Continual incubation at temperatures higher than 25 °C leads to sterility 31,32 .…”

Zinc availability during germline development impacts embryo viability in Caenorhabditis elegans

“…These worms develop through four larval stages (L1–L4), entering adulthood in approximately 3 days (Corsi et al, 2015). In self-fertilizing hermaphrodites, gonadogenesis completes and meiosis begins in the L4 stage.…”

CRISPR Technology Reveals RAD(51)-ical Mechanisms of Repair in Roundworms: An Educational Primer for Use with “Promotion of Homologous Recombination by SWS-1 in Complex with RAD-51 Paralogs in Caenorhabditis elegans”

“…As an adult, C. elegans is a 1-mm-long, transparent nematode capable of selffertilization, with each hermaphrodite capable of producing 300 offspring during its 3-to 4-day life cycle, and up to 1000 offspring when mated with males. Both mutants and genetic tools to assess knockdown of gene expression are also readily available and inexpensive (see Corsi et al 2015).…”