Caenorhabditis elegans , A Simple Worm: Bridging the Gap Between Traditional and Systems-Level Biology

Caenorhabditis elegans is a simple invertebrate roundworm that has served as a model for exploring basic biological questions concerning multicellular organisms and has made numerous contributions to our understanding of human biology. In this chapter we explore some of the approaches C. elegans researchers have employed in an effort to elucidate conserved molecular mechanisms and understand the basic biology underlying many human disorders.