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Witness History: How a worm helped explain human development

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How a worm helped explain human development

13/04/2021 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, How a worm helped explain human development

The nematode worm c. elegans has enabled all sorts of discoveries about human biology

Adopted as a model animal for scientific research in 1963, the nematode worm c. elegans has enabled vital discoveries about human biology.

After the discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA in the 1950s, South African biologist Sydney Brenner was searching for a model animal to help him tease out the genes involved in human behaviour and human development from egg to adult. Brenner chose a tiny nematode worm called caenorhabditis elegans (c.elegans for short), whose biological clockwork can be observed in real time under a microscope through its transparent skin. The worm has since been at the heart of all sorts of discoveries about how our bodies work and fail. Sue Armstrong has been speaking to people who knew and worked with Sydney Brenner.

This programme is a Ruth Evans Production.

Photo: the c. elegans worm. Credit: Science Photo Library

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