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Comparative genomics

Two worms are better than one

Nature volume 426, pages 395–396 (2003)Cite this article

The genome of the microscopic worm Caenorhabditis briggsae has been sequenced, and shows some remarkable differences from the genome of the better known — and physically similar — C. elegans.

In the early 1960s, when biologist Sydney Brenner was searching for a new model organism with which to study animal development and neurobiology, he screened a wide range of invertebrate species and chose the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans because it is easy to culture and transparent at all stages of its life cycle1. This small worm is now famous, not least for being the first animal to have its whole genome sequenced2. A close relative of C. elegans also passed by Brenner's microscope, and narrowly missed this accolade. This creature, C. briggsae, is physically very similar to C. elegans (it takes an expert to distinguish them), and the two have near-identical biology, even down to the minutiae of developmental processes. Surprisingly, however, their genomes are not so similar, as the sequencing of the C. briggsae genome to around 98% completion, reported in Public Library of Science Biology, now reveals3. Comparing the two species offers a new view of the patterns and processes that have shaped genomes, and raises many questions for the future.

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Figure 1: Rapid genome change and physical conservation in nematodes.

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  1. the School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3JT, UK

    Mark Blaxter

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  1. Mark Blaxter
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Blaxter, M. Two worms are better than one. Nature 426, 395–396 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/426395a

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