C. elegans Life Cycle

C. elegans Life Cycle

Life cycle of C. elegans at 25°C

  • Solid arrows: molt
  • From Egg to Larvae 1 (L1) stage: it takes 8 hours from the laying of egg to L1 stage. The whole embryogenesis from sperm entry to hatching takes about 14 hours.
  • The Dauer stage: C. elegans develops into dauer larvae stage under starvation conditions.
  • From Dauer to L4: after placing in food, dauer larvae will reach L4 stage.
  • Its life cycle is about 3 days. 1
  • 1. Epstein, F. H. & Shakes, C. D. (Ed). (1995). Caenorhabditis elegans: Modern Biological Analysis of an Organism. New York, NY: Academic Press.