Xenopus
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Xenopus amieti (volcano clawed frog) |
Xenopus (L., strange foot) are a genus of carnivorous frog native to Africa. There are 15 species in the Xenopus genus, all aquatic with unwebbed fingers and fully webbed feet, with claws on three toes.[1] The best-known species belonging to this genus is Xenopus laevis, which is commonly studied as a model organism.
Xenopus research models
Xenopus are a popular model system for gene and protein expression and knockdown studies. At 1 mm diameter, Xenopus oocytes are very large cells which are easy for scientists to culture and use in experiments. RNA from other organisms can be injected into the large oocytes and the resulting expression studied via molecular biology techniques or through electrophysiology experimentation. Gene expression can be knocked down or splicing modified using Morpholino antisense oligos injected into Xenopus oocytes (for whole-body effects) or early embryos (for effects in the daughter cells descended from the injected cell). Cytoplasmic extracts made by centrifuging Xenopus eggs or embryos (allowing direct addition or depletion of proteins) can recapitulate a wide range of complex cellular processes including nuclear envelope formation, DNA replication and spindle assembly.
While Xenopus laevis is the most commonly used species for developmental biology studies, genetic studies can be complicated by their pseudotetraploid genome. Xenopus tropicalis provides a simpler model for genetic studies, having a diploid genome. Morpholino knockdown techniques are also used in X. tropicalis to probe the function of a protein by observing the results of eliminating the protein's activity, as was done in a screen [1] [2] of X. tropicalis genes published in 2006.
X. laevis is often used as a low-tech pregnancy test; for details, see the species account.
Pets
X. laevis and other species of Xenopus are kept as pets in the United States, though some Western US states have outlawed this practice due to Xenopus frogs released into the wild threatening local frog species.[citation needed]
References
External links
- Xenbase ~ A Xenopus laevis and tropicalis Web ResourceTemplate:Amphibian-stub
Major model organisms in genetics |
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| Sheep · Lambda phage · E. coli · Chlamydomonas · Tetrahymena · Budding yeast · Fission yeast · Neurospora · Maize · Arabidopsis · Medicago truncatula · C. elegans · Drosophila · Xenopus · Zebrafish · Rat · Mouse |
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Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content
Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .
