Rotifer can be a good model organism for theoretical biology

Rotifers are cylindrical zooplankton which constitute the phylum Rotifera. They have organs and tissues including ganglia, muscles, digestive organs, ovaries, and sensory organs in their <1mm body. Rotifers are suitable for the study on the population dynamics and longevity due to their short generation time. Furthermore the most attractive characteristic of the rotifers is asexual propagation, makes it easy to obtain clonal cultures. The genomic and transcriptomic database are developed and molecular biological techniques such as RNAi for using rotifers have been established. In this seminar, other attractive characteristics of rotifer as a model organism for theoretical biology and great studies using rotifers will be introduced. Our recent results of investigating the effects of calorie condition on longevity will be discussed.