About the frog:The western clawed frog Xenopus tropicalis is a newcomer to the collection of model organisms, but is a close relative of Xenopus laevis, another frog species which has played a fundamental role in the study of vertebrate embryology. Amphibian embryos have been the subject of embryological study for well over a century, because the embryos develop externally, and their relatively large size has enabled experimental manipulation in the lab. The frog, X. laevis, became a favorite organism of study in the 1930s due to its ease of care and the ability to induce the production of embryos in the laboratory. Work on X. laevis has led the way in identifying the mechanisms of early fate decisions, patterning of the basic vertebrate body plan, and early organogenesis. Contributions in cell biology and biochemistry include seminal work on chromosome replication, chromatin and nuclear assembly, control of the cell cycle components, in vitro reconstruction of cytoskeletal element dynamics, and signaling pathways. Though its contribution to our understanding of development and the techniques developed for X. laevis are profound, practical limitations have provided a barrier to many areas of study. X. laevis is allotetraploid due to a genome duplication event, meaning there are four copies of each gene. This confounds the study of its genome, and makes it virtually impossible to construct a knockout strain. Further, the generation time and size of the organism make it impractical to perform classical genetic techniques.  Feeding tadpole The genome of X. tropicalis was sequenced in 2006. As an amphibian, it will provide context to the evolution of vertebrate genomes, residing between fish and mammals. Studies at CIG currently focus on developing genetic techniques for Xenopus tropicalis. The combination of these techniques with the genome sequence and the foundation of understanding of X. laevis will provide a powerful new dimension of study.
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Organisms 
