Caenorhabditis elegans: a model organism in the toxicity assessment of environmental pollutants

The unfavorable effects of environmental pollutants are becoming increasingly evident. In recent years, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) has been used as a powerful terrestrial model organism for environmental toxicity studies owing to its various advantages, including ease of culture, short lifespan, small size, transparent body, and well-characterized genome. In vivo bioassays and field studies can analyze and evaluate various toxic effects of the toxicants on the model organism, while emerging technologies allow profound insights into molecular disturbances underlying the observed phenotypes. In this review, we discuss the applications of C. elegans as a model organism in environmental toxicity studies and delineate apical assays such as lifespan, growth rate, reproduction, and locomotion, which are widely used in toxicity evaluation. In addition to phenotype assays, a comprehensive understanding of the toxic mode of action and mechanism can be achieved through a highly sensitive multi-omics approach, including the expression levels of genes and endogenous metabolites. Recent studies on environmental toxicity using these approaches have been summarized. This review highlights the practicality and advantages of C. elegans in evaluating the toxicity of environmental pollutants and presents the findings of recent toxicity studies performed using this model organism. Finally, we propose crucial technical considerations to escalate the appropriate use of C. elegans in examining the toxic effects of environmental pollutants.