Caenorhabditis Roundworm

• GeneralA model organism of biology: the first animal to have its genome fully sequenced.
• It is the only animal whose every single cell has a known fate: the complete lineage has been traced from egg to adult, with 959 somatic cells in the hermaphrodite.
• Specimens travelling aboard the shuttle Columbia survived its break-up in 2003 and were recovered alive among the debris.
• It is one of the most important model organisms in biology, and several Nobel Prizes have been won with it.
• The hermaphrodite adult has exactly 959 somatic cells, always the same ones. John Sulston traced the complete lineage of every one of them, cell by cell, from the fertilised egg: it is the only complete cell lineage determined for any animal.
• Out of that work came the discovery of apoptosis: of the 1,090 cells produced, 131 always disappear at the same moment and in the same way. That is programmed cell death, and it won the 2002 Nobel Prize for Brenner, Sulston and Horvitz.
• Its 302 neurons and all their connections were mapped as well, the first complete connectome of any animal.
• In 1998 it became the first multicellular organism to have its genome completely sequenced.
• The discovery of RNA interference, which brought Fire and Mello the 2006 Nobel Prize, was also made with this worm.
• It measures a millimetre and is transparent, which makes it possible to see everything inside without opening it up.

Habitat & environment

Damp soils rich in organic matter

Sexual maturity

3 days

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caenorhabditis_elegans