Sublethal Assay of Pesticides and Phenols Using the Nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

The free-living nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) has been adopted as a multicellular biosensor of biological toxicity for alkylphenol, organotin compounds and heavy metals. To adopt as a biosensor, suitability to assess must be fulfilledthrough several criteria; the organism must be sensitive to the testing toxicants, easy to manage in the laboratory and available throughout the year. C. elegans widely used as a simple multicellular organism in developmental biology studies and satisfies all these criteria, and its culture conditions, developmental staging, anatomy and genetic properties are well defined. In addition, researchers can take advantage of the worm's short life cycle, low cost and little individual variation. Moreover, genomic sequencing of C. elegans has recently been completed. With these aspectsof the organism, C. elegans become a more potent model organism for basic and applied bioassays.