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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Example Sentences

Collaborators at Utrecht University used the tool in the worm C. elegans, a widely used model organism.

From Science Daily • Nov. 23, 2025

Both conducted their research on the nematode worm - C. elegans.

From BBC • Oct. 7, 2024

A new pre-print atlas of neurotransmitters maps out such chemicals in C. elegans, a millimeter-long multicellular roundworm often used in biological experiments.

From Salon • Jul. 14, 2024

Thus opioid receptors are not found in invertebrate animals like the nematode C. elegans, the honeybee or the squid.

From Salon • Jul. 14, 2024

One advantage of the model the researchers used is that C. elegans embryos can develop outside the uterus and in the absence of maternal care.

From Science Daily • May 30, 2024