C. elegans

American  

[el-i-ganz] / ˈɛl ɪˌgænz /

noun

1. a bacteriophagic, soil-dwelling nematode (Caenorhabditis elegans) whose genome was the first to be fully sequenced.

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C. elegans Scientific  

/ sē′ĕl′ə-gănz /

1. A nematode (Caenorhabditis elegans) that lives in soil, feeds on bacteria, and reaches lengths of about 1 mm (0.04 inch). It was the first animal whose genome was completely sequenced, and is widely used as a “model organism” by researchers in genetics and developmental biology because it has a small genome and transparent skin.

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