The Perfect C. elegans Project: An Initial Report

The soil nematode Caenorhabditis Elegans (C. elegans) is the most investigated of all multicellular organisms. Since the proposal to use it as a model organism, a series of research projects have been undertaken, investigating various aspects of this organism. As a result, the complete cell lineage, neural circuitry, and various genes and their functions have been identified. The complete C. elegans DNA sequencing and gene expression mapping for each cell at different times during embryogenesis will be identified in a few years. Given the abundance of collected data, we believe that the time is ripe to introduce synthetic models of C. elegans to further enhance our understanding of the underlying principles of its development and behavior. For this reason, we have started the Perfect C. elegans Project, which aims to produce ultimately a complete synthetic model of C. elegans' cellular structure and function. This article describes the goal, the approach, and the initial results of the project.