Neuronal Cell Lineages in the Nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract

One of the attractive properties of the small nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (Fig. 1) is that the divisions, migrations, and deaths of all its cells can be followed continuously in living individuals from conception to maturity. By means of Nomarski differential interference contrast microscopy, the entire cell lineage of the animal has been traced (Sulston and Horvitz 1977; Kimble and Hirsh 1979; Sulston et al. 1983) and has been related to the anatomy as reconstructed by electron microscopy (Ward et al. 1975; Ware et al. 1975; Albertson and Thomson 1976; White et al. 1976; Sulston et al. 1980; J.G. White et al., in prep. and this volume). The early embryonic lineages were accurately described at the turn of the century (for review, see Chitwood and Chitwood 1974), but, dependent as the observations then were upon comparisons between embryos fixed and stained at different ages, they could not be extended to later...