Number of chromosomes (autosomal, for sex chromosomes see comments)

Value 5 unitless
Organism Nematode Caenorhabditis elegans
Reference C. elegans II. 2nd edition. Chapter 2 The Genome, Robert H Waterston, John E Sulston, and Alan R Coulson, Section I General Properties 2nd paragraph, link
Primary Source Coulson A R, Kozono Y, Lutterbach B, Shownkeen R, Sulston J, Waterston R. YACs and the C. elegans genome. BioEssays. 1991 13: 413–417.PubMed ID1953703
Comments "The nuclear genome contains approximately 100×10^6 base pairs, organized into six chromosomes ranging in size from 14×10^6 to 22×10^6 base pairs (primary source), which is approximately 20 times the size of Escherichia coli (the underestimate of the E. coli genome size, used as a standard, led to the underestimate of the C. elegans genome size by reassociation kinetics) and about 1/30 the size of the human genome." Males have one X hermaphrodites have two X
Entered by Ben Marks
ID 101369