Caenorhabditis elegans: Origins and use as a modern model organism

The history of the study of nematodes to understand aspects of genetics, cell biology, and development began as early as the late 1800s, when Marcella and Theodor Boveri worked on early development of horse ascarids. Their work was instrumental in advancing the understanding of the chromosome theory of heredity. This work was followed by that of many scientists who studied multiple nematodes over the years. Caenorhabditis elegans was identified through a series of serendipitous discoveries. In 1944 Margaret Briggs Gochnauer found a nematode that at that time was identified as a Rhabditis species on the Stanford University campus, where she worked on studying the effect of antibiotics on these worms. Ellsworth Dougherty, who at that time, was studying another nematode of the Rhabditis species became interested in Gochnauer's work, as the nematode she was studying was self-fertilizing. A few years after beginning their work on these worms Ellsworth Dougherty and Victor Nigon named the nematodes first found by Briggs Gochnauer as Rhabditis briggsae. This was also based on a related species that was found circa 1900 in Algeria by E´ mile Moupas and called Rhabditis elegans. In 1952, these two species were placed in the subgenus Caenorhabditis. This subgenus was elevated to the rank of genus by Dougherty in 1955. Nigon established the culture conditions for growing and successfully set up crossing strategies in a largely hermaphroditic lifestyle. We now use nematodes that were found in 1900 extensively as the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. This strain was later popularized by Sydney Brenner's MRC lab, which received it from Dougherty and went on to perform seminal work on the development of C. elegans. A large number of talented individuals came to the MRC to work with Brenner, thus allowing for the spread of C. elegans as a model of choice by thousands of researchers worldwide.