He tested his idea in a tiny nematode worm called Caenorhabditis elegans and, in 1994, published a paper showing how touch-receptor proteins are distributed around this worm.

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The researchers also are developing protein-network maps for other organisms, including a yeast cell and Caenorhabditis elegans, a tiny worm with some 19, 000 genes, about the same number as humans.

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In this case, the worm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) was found by scientists at Rutgers University in New Jersey, US, to losing its muscle mass and strength as it aged, without any accompanying loss in nervous system function.

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