Caenorhabditis elegans

Context

Caenorhabditis elegans, also called “the worm,” is used a lot in science to study how brains and cells work.

• It was the first animal to have all its genes and brain connections figured out.
• These worms grow fast and become adults in just 3-5 days after being born from eggs.

About Caenorhabditis elegans

Caenorhabditis elegans is a small, transparent nematode. It lives freely in temperate soil environments.

• The name C. elegans comes from a blend of Greek and Latin words meaning “recent,” “rod-like,” and “elegant.”
• Key Traits of Caenorhabditis elegans:
  • C. elegans is an unsegmented pseudocoelomate organism, meaning it lacks segmented body divisions and has a fluid-filled body cavity.
  • It does not have respiratory or circulatory systems, distinguishing it from more complex organisms.

Enroll now for UPSC Online Course

• • The majority of Caenorhabditis elegans individuals are hermaphrodites, capable of producing both eggs and sperm.
    • However, there are also a few males among the population.
  • Male Caenorhabditis elegans possess unique tails specialized for mating, which include spicules, structures used during copulation.

About Pseudomonas vranovensis

• Pseudomonas vranovensis is a harmful bacteria found where Caenorhabditis elegans naturally lives.
  • This bacterium produces a tiny molecule called sRNA.
• When the worms eat this bacterium, they also take in the sRNA.
  • The sRNA changes the worms’ eating habits so they avoid the harmful bacteria in the future.
• P. mendocina:
  • P. mendocina, another bacterium in C. elegans’ habitat, is not harmful but a food source.
  • Worms trained to avoid pathogenic P. vranovensis also avoided feeding on non-pathogenic P. mendocina.
  • Researchers suggest that the “loss of memory” around the fifth generation might occur to re-learn the advantage of consuming P. mendocina.

About DNA and RNA

• DNA is like a ladder made of phosphate and sugar molecules.
  • Each sugar unit is attached with four types of chemical bases: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T).
• P. vranovensis bacteria have about 6-7 million rungs in their DNA.
  • It contains around 5,500 genes. 
  • Each gene provides instructions for making a protein.
• RNA is similar to a half-ladder or a comb, with a spine made of phosphate and sugar molecules, and four types of bases: A, C, G, and uridine (U).
• During a process called transcription, a cell copies the sequence of bases in a gene from DNA to RNA. 
  • This RNA, known as messenger RNA (mRNA), carries the genetic information to ribosomes.
• sRNA and Gene Expression:
  • Some genes produce sRNA instead of mRNA and proteins.
  • sRNA can interact with proteins and other RNAs.
    • It influences gene expression positively or negatively.
• Experiment with C. elegans:
  • Researchers at Princeton University discovered that C. elegans worms ingested a 124-tine sRNA from P. vranovensis bacteria.
    • This sRNA reduced the expression of a gene called maco-1 in the worms.
      • It is also found in humans and plays a crucial neurological role.

Link between Caenorhabditis elegans and Human Genome:

• Genes identified in Caenorhabditis elegans that affect its development are also found in the human genome.
• Mutations in these genes have been linked to limb deformities in humans.

Enroll now for UPSC Online Classes