Caenorhabditis elegans (nematode)
A true metazoan -- free living soil nematode (roundworm), eats bacteria, amoebae.
Selected by Seymour Benzer as a model organism for study of neural development
Caenorhabditis elegans (nematode)
A true metazoan -- free living soil nematode (roundworm), eats bacteria, amoebae.
Selected by Seymour Benzer as a model organism for study of neural development.
Adult has 945 cells with 959 somatic nuclei; 302 neuronal cells derived from 407 neural precursor cells.
Adult is 1 mm long, can be grown in Petri dishes with bacteria; 104-105 animals per dish.
Generation time of only 3 days from zygote to fertile adult.
300 progeny per adult.
Sexually dimorphic -- hermaphrodite (XX), male (XO)
Hermaphrodites may self-fertilize or may mate with males.
Fertilization takes place