It's my first time to culture C.elegans. I saw the html link (INTRODUCTION TO C. elegans ANATOMY http://www.wormatlas.org/ver1/handbook/anatomyintro/anatomyintro.htm). They described each stage of C.elegans (First fig.). However, it's hard to discriminate each of stage for me. I captured some of my C.elegans but still doubt what is stage of C.elegans.
Thank you so much,
Sarit
Do you need to discriminate all stages? The L1 to L3 stages are best discriminated concerning their length, i think. A L1 would fit in an egg, if folded. The L4 stage has a white spot in the center of it's body. When the L4 is reaching adulthood, a thin line will divide this spot. It is the vulva, starting to differentiate. Adult hermaphrodites carry many eggs in the first days. Later they will look crappy. Adult males are similar in size to L4 larva, but have an arrow-shaped tail.
This post has inspired me to extend the above question to: What is the minimal length of an (wild type) L1 larvae ? According to the same wormatlas data you linked, it would be 250µm, hwoever this should be under certain conditions... Best, Aennes
It's hard to discriminate L1 and L2 stage, only by feeling the size of worm, as to L4, the period which has the most significant feature introduced by Jens Daniel, here I want to add the difference between young adult and day1 adult, young adult do not carry eggs and the white spot had became Protruding shape.
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