Unit 1 Lecture 3 - Model Organisms

Escherichia coli

Model organism for prokaryotes has 4.6 million nucleotide base pairs and make 4300 different kinds of proteins was pivotal in explaining How cells replicate their DNA and how they decode these genetic instructions to make proteins.

Meselson–Stahl experiment

an experiment in 1958 which supported the hypothesis that DNA replication was semiconservative. Touted as the most beautiful experiment in biology.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Model organism for single celled eukaryotes. A single-celled fungus that reproduces as rapidly as a bacterium. Has a small genome but 2.5 times as much DNA as E. coli. Used in understanding cell-division cycle.

Yoshinori Ohsumi

2016 nobel prize in physiology or medicine winner on his mechanisms in autophagy experiments with yeast.

Arabidopsis thaliana

Model organism for plants.

Drosophila melanogaster

Caenorhabditis elagans

The first multicellular organism whose genome was completely sequenced. Gave important clues on programmed cell death.

Danio rerio

Transparent fish. Provides an ideal system to observe how cells behave during development in a living animal.

E.coli model disease

Colon cancer

S. cerevisiae model disease

cancer and Werner syndrome

D. melanoster model disease

nervous system disorders and cancer

C. elegans model disease

Diabetes

M musculus model disease

cystic fibrosis.

D. rerio model disease

Cardiovascular diseases