[Campbell Biology P.1107] Which characteristic of Caenorhabditis elegans makes it particularl... | Practice Question

Which characteristic of Caenorhabditis elegans makes it particularly well-suited for comprehensive cell lineage studies?

  • A: It is a vertebrate.
  • B: Its body is opaque, making cell tracing difficult.
  • C: It has a simple, transparent body with only a few types of cells.
  • D: It has a very long developmental period, allowing ample time for observation.

Explanation

The text states that C. elegans 'is about 1 mm long, has a simple, transparent body with only a few types of cells, and develops into a mature adult hermaphrodite worm in only 3.5 days in the laboratory. These attributes allowed Sydney Brenner, Robert Horvitz, and John Sulston to determine the complete developmental history, or lineage, of every cell'. The simple, transparent body with few cell types is explicitly mentioned as a key attribute for complete lineage determination.