Roundworms: Caenorhabditis Elegans

Aging is a complex deteriorative process affecting the survival of both living and nonliving things. To understand the underlying molecular and physiological processes of human aging, it is necessary to study a system that is less complex than humans—one where experiments can be easily performed. In response to these needs, a number of invertebrate models have been identified. Such models invariably are quite short-lived; in fact, the species described here, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, (see Figure 1) lives for only three weeks under normal conditions.