Caenorhabditis elegans: a powerful tool for drug discovery

A simple model organism Caenorhabditis elegans has contributed substantially to the fundamental researches in biology.  In an era of functional genomics, nematode worm has been developed into a multi-purpose tool that can be exploited to identify disease-causing or disease-associated genes, validate potential drug targets.  This, coupled with its genetic amenability, low cost experimental manipulation and compatibility with high throughput screening in an intact physiological condition, makes the model organism into an effective toolbox  for drug discovery.  This review shows the unique features of C. elegans, how it can play a valuable role in our understanding of the molecular mechanism of human diseases and finding drug leads in drug development  process.