Three-Dimensional Fruit Tissue Habitats for Culturing Caenorhabditis elegans.

Environmental factors influence many traits of biological interest, but reproducing an animal's natural habitat in a controlled laboratory environment is challenging. Environmental enrichment-adding complexity to the usually simplistic conditions under which laboratory animals are raised-offers a potential tool for better understanding biological traits while maintaining controlled laboratory conditions. For the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the contrast between the natural environment and the laboratory conditions in which they are raised is enormous.

A three-dimensional habitat for C. elegans environmental enrichment.

As we learn more about the importance of gene-environment interactions and the effects of environmental enrichment, it becomes evident that minimalistic laboratory conditions can affect gene expression patterns and behaviors of model organisms. In the laboratory, Caenorhabditis elegans is generally cultured on two-dimensional, homogeneous agar plates abundantly covered with axenic bacteria culture as a food source. However, in the wild, this nematode thrives in rotting fruits and plant stems feeding on bacteria and small eukaryotes.