A model organism is a non-human species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the model organism will provide insight into the workings of other organisms. Model organisms are widely used to research human disease when human experimentation would be unfeasible or unethical. This strategy is made possible by the common descent of all living organisms, and the conservation of metabolic and developmental pathways and genetic material over the course of evolution.
Escherichia coli is a gram-negative prokaryotic model organism
Drosophila melanogaster, one of the most famous subjects for genetics experiments
Saccharomyces cerevisiae, one of the most intensively studied eukaryotic model organisms in molecular and cell biology
Laboratory mice, widely used in medical research
A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin modulus, a measure.
Model of a molecule, with coloured balls representing different atoms
Part of the one-ninth scale model of Bourton-on-the-Water at Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, England
Water-powered model of the UK economy – MONIAC in the Science Museum, London
Female model demonstrating brassiere for similarly-built potential buyers
