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.

---

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.

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

C. elegans

The team, which included Nobel laureate Gary Ruvkun, PhD, studied a tiny roundworm species called C. elegans to understand how cells might function without frataxin.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 12, 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

"While the work is done using C. elegans, the majority of genes analyzed are present in humans and mutations in many of them are associated with human developmental disorders."

From Science Daily ● May 23, 2024