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Chemistry and the Worm: Caenorhabditis elegans as a Platform for Integrating Chemical and Biological Research
Author(s) -
Hulme S. Elizabeth,
Whitesides George M.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201005461
Subject(s) - organism , caenorhabditis elegans , multicellular organism , model organism , simplicity , biology , biological organism , living systems , computational biology , ecology , cognitive science , genetics , biological materials , psychology , epistemology , philosophy , biological system , gene
This Review discusses the potential usefulness of the worm Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism for chemists interested in studying living systems. C. elegans, a 1 mm long roundworm, is a popular model organism in almost all areas of modern biology. The worm has several features that make it attractive for biology: it is small (<1000 cells), transparent, and genetically tractable. Despite its simplicity, the worm exhibits complex phenotypes associated with multicellularity: the worm has differentiated cells and organs, it ages and has a well‐defined lifespan, and it is capable of learning and remembering. This Review argues that the balance between simplicity and complexity in the worm will make it a useful tool in determining the relationship between molecular‐scale phenomena and organism‐level phenomena, such as aging, behavior, cognition, and disease. Following an introduction to worm biology, the Review provides examples of current research with C. elegans that is chemically relevant. It also describes tools—biological, chemical, and physical—that are available to researchers studying the worm.