[
1998]
The free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has emerged rapidly as an organism with which to study many basic biological phenomena, particularly those related to development. This can ben evidenced numerically in many ways; for example, the number of presentations at the biennial C. elegans meeting has increased over sevenfold, from 80 in 1979 to 569 in 1995. In addition to numerous review articles, several books are devoted to this nematode, its attributes and various foci of interest. The three preliminary attributes that have rendered C. elegans a popular model system are overviewed briefly in the following three sections. The attributes that have rendered C. elegans popular with developmental biologists have also been exploited to examine specific areas in radiation biology, DNA repair, and mutagenesis. Several of the basic DNA repair pathways operative in C. elegans have been elucidated. Also, a number of biological end points such as survival and mutagenesis, have been examined so as to address the various mechanisms by which C. elegans accommodates DNA damage. Central to these efforts has been the isolation and characterization of radiation-sensitive (rad) mutants that modify various biological responses. In particular, these studies provide insights into damage processing, particularly as related to development and aging.