bag of worms(literally).

I'm taking Advanced Genetics this semester& so far we have been learning all about Ras. Oncogenic Ras has been found in many different types of cancer, leading to scientists studying this particular protein in relation to cell division and proliferation. 

We have been going through different papers and discussing the specific discoveries throughout the years while learning the techniques used and the questions asked. To set the tone for a specific paper we are reading, we needed to learn about C. elegans.

Specifically, we are learning about vulva development in C. elegans, which is necessary for the eggs to be expelled. In a phenotype appropriately labeled "bag of worms", failure of the vulva to develop causes the eggs to actually hatch inside the hermaphrodite parent worm. The parent essentially becomes "a bag of worms", and the worms eat the parent's tissues from inside out, then burst out of the parent.

Isn't this the craziest thing ever? It's like combining the "Men in Black"'s alien-inside-human's-head plus Michael Crichton's Prey and every parasite nightmare you've ever had. I began laughing in class as my professor began to describe this.

Photograph courtesy of Paul Sternberg

From this website on development of vulva in C. elegans by NCBI.

A-wildtype, B-vulvaless, C-multiple vulvas.

Well, he described it like: "and these baby worms burst out, then... they become bags of worms themselves later". What a vicious life cycle.

Now I'm going to have a very vivid picture anytime someone uses this idiom:

"bag" of worms!