date:Jan 07, 2014
e researchers used a small organism a one millimetre long nematode called Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) to examine how damage to DNA might be repaired in order to live a healthy and long life. The roundworm, which lives for only 25 days, has 20,000 genes, only a few thousand fewer than humans.
C. elegans is a fantastically powerful tool, because we can change its hereditary properties, Ms Hilde said. We can increase its ability to repair DNA damage, or we can remove it altogether. We ca