The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a powerful model organism for studying the cellular mechanisms of aging, proteostasis, and neurodegeneration. This tiny, transparent roundworm has been central to biological research for decades and has contributed to several Nobel Prize–winning discoveries.
C. elegans combines the simplicity of a small invertebrate with remarkable genetic and functional conservation, sharing about 60–80% of its genes with humans. Its transparency allows real-time observation of protein aggregation, neuronal activity, and stress responses in intact living animals. The worm’s short life cycle, defined cell lineage, and well-mapped nervous system enable detailed analysis of molecular and cellular processes over time and across tissues.
Because C. elegans is a multicellular organism, it is particularly well suited to study how disturbances in proteostasis or stress responses spread between cells and tissues. This makes it an ideal system to investigate prion-like propagation of aggregation-prone proteins, age-dependent loss of proteostasis, and the organismal coordination of stress and repair mechanisms.
Many of the pathways that regulate proteostasis, lipid metabolism, and stress resilience are conserved from worms to humans, allowing discoveries in C. elegans to provide direct insight into the mechanisms underlying human neurodegenerative diseases.
If you want to learn more about the use of C. elegans in protein-misfolding diseases, then check out our review articles (here and here) and the references therein.
Nussbaum lab 