The perfect C-elegans project: An initial report

The soil nematode Caenorhabditis Elegans (C. elegans) is the most investiga ted of all multicellular organisms. Since the proposal to use it as a model organism, a series of research projects have been undertaken, investigatin g various aspects of this organism. As a result, the complete cell lineage, neural circuitry, and various genes and their functions have been identifi ed. The complete C. elegans DNA sequencing and gene expression mapping for each cell at different times during embryogenesis will be identified in a f ew years. Given the abundance of collected data, we believe that the time i s ripe to introduce synthetic models of C. elegans to further enhance our u nderstanding of the underlying principles of its development and behavior. For this reason, we have started the Perfect C. elegans Project, which aims to produce ultimately a complete synthetic model of C. elegans' cellular s tructure and function. This article describes the goal, the approach, and t he initial results of the project.