{"id":1883,"date":"2019-07-30T13:52:55","date_gmt":"2019-07-30T18:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/pdbbootcamp\/?page_id=1883"},"modified":"2019-08-02T08:35:02","modified_gmt":"2019-08-02T13:35:02","slug":"background-into-xenopus","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/pdbbootcamp\/home\/2019-projects\/frog-muscle\/background-into-xenopus\/","title":{"rendered":"Xenopus Background"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a>
Image source: http:\/\/faculty.virginia.edu\/xtropicalis\/program.html<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Which Xenopus spp.\u00a0<\/em>(species) are used in biomedical research?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two species of frog,\u00a0X. laevis<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0X. tropicalis<\/em><\/a>, are commonly utilized within biomedical research. Traditionally, X. laevis\u00a0<\/em>has been the\u00a0“workhorse” for\u00a0embryological studies, its fertilized eggs having been used to study vertebrate development for decades. Meanwhile,\u00a0X. tropicalis <\/em>has more recently\u00a0emerged\u00a0and could be argued as the\u00a0more useful model.\u00a0This smaller frog is the only member of\u00a0Xenopus spp.\u00a0<\/em>with a diploid<\/a> phenotype and has a much shorter lifespan, making it more amenable to genetics studies.<\/p>\n

What about\u00a0Xenopus\u00a0<\/em>in the wild?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Xenopus\u00a0<\/em>are a\u00a0somewhat\u00a0inactive animal and\u00a0prefer the water, leaving only to migrate. Like other frogs, and unlike humans, these animals are cold-blooded, requiring mechanisms and\/or behaviors to control body temperature. Because of this,\u00a0Xenopus<\/em>\u00a0prefer mostly temperate environments. Also unlike humans,\u00a0Xenopus\u00a0<\/em>undergo metamorphosis<\/a> during development from the tadpole, which is entirely aquatic, into the adult frog, which can traverse terrestrial environments. In the wild,\u00a0Xenopus\u00a0<\/em>adults are known to burrow into the ground during dry seasons, where they can remain dormant for up to one year.<\/p>\n

Where can this frog be found?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Shown<\/a>
Shown above are extant resident (natural) populations of commonly used Xenopus species used in biomedical research, X. laevis and X. tropicalis. Tinsley, R., Minter, L., Measey, J., Howell, K., Veloso, A., N\u00fa\u00f1ez, H. & Romano, A. 2009. Citation: Xenopus laevis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2009: e.T58174A11730010.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Resident Xenopus<\/em>\u00a0populations are found primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa, where they are fairly common in ponds, lakes, and rivers. There also exist introduced, isolated populations of\u00a0X. laevis<\/em> in the Americas (mainly within the western U.S. and Chile) as well as in Europe (mainly France and the U. K.), where their ‘hardiness’ means they typically outcompete other resident frog populations.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
This image is classified as free content. Source: V\u00e1clav Gvo\u017ed\u00edk, University of California-Berkeley.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Which Xenopus spp.\u00a0(species) are used in biomedical research? Two species of frog,\u00a0X. laevis\u00a0and\u00a0X. tropicalis, are commonly utilized within biomedical research. Traditionally, X. laevis\u00a0has been the\u00a0“workhorse” for\u00a0embryological studies, its fertilized eggs having been used to study vertebrate development for decades. Meanwhile,\u00a0X. tropicalis has more recently\u00a0emerged\u00a0and could be argued as the\u00a0more useful model.\u00a0This smaller frog is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8390,"featured_media":0,"parent":1384,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1883","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/pdbbootcamp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/pdbbootcamp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/pdbbootcamp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/pdbbootcamp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8390"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/pdbbootcamp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1883"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/pdbbootcamp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2297,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/pdbbootcamp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1883\/revisions\/2297"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/pdbbootcamp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/pdbbootcamp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/pdbbootcamp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}