C. elegans is a tiny, free-living transparent soil nematode about 1mm in length that lives in a temperate soil environment. It is a non-hazardous, non-infectious, non-pathogenic, and a non-parasitic organism.
C. elegans offers a great model system to study fundamental biological questions. They are:
- Easy to genetically manipulate.
- Transparent worms with defined developmental stages that are morphologically distinct.
- Many of the genes (83%) in the C. elegans genome have functional counterparts in mammals which makes it an extremely powerful model for human diseases.
- Strains can be frozen indefinitely for long-term storage.