scholarly journals Xenopus tropicalis egg extracts provide insight into scaling of the mitotic spindle

2007 ◽  
Vol 176 (6) ◽  
pp. 765-770 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine S. Brown ◽  
Michael D. Blower ◽  
Thomas J. Maresca ◽  
Timothy C. Grammer ◽  
Richard M. Harland ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Biology ◽  
Model Organism ◽  
Xenopus Tropicalis ◽  
Developmental Genetics ◽  
African Clawed Frog ◽  
Egg Extracts ◽  
Sperm Nuclei ◽  
Dose Dependent ◽  
Clawed Frog ◽  
Insight Into

The African clawed frog Xenopus laevis has been instrumental to investigations of both development and cell biology, but the utility of this model organism for genetic and proteomic studies is limited by its long generation time and unsequenced pseudotetraploid genome. Xenopus tropicalis, which is a small, faster-breeding relative of X. laevis, has recently been adopted for research in developmental genetics and functional genomics, and has been chosen for genome sequencing. We show that X. tropicalis egg extracts reconstitute the fundamental cell cycle events of nuclear formation and bipolar spindle assembly around exogenously added sperm nuclei. Interestingly, X. tropicalis spindles were ∼30% shorter than X. laevis spindles, and mixing experiments revealed a dynamic, dose-dependent regulation of spindle size by cytoplasmic factors. Measurements of microtubule dynamics revealed that microtubules polymerized slower in X. tropicalis extracts compared to X. laevis, but that this difference is unlikely to account for differences in spindle size. Thus, in addition to expanding the range of developmental and cell biological experiments, the use of X. tropicalis provides novel insight into the complex mechanisms that govern spindle morphogenesis.

scholarly journals Conservation and structural analysis of the Xenopus laevis phospho-proteome

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey R Johnson ◽  
Silvia D Santos ◽  
Tasha Johnson ◽  
Ursula Pieper ◽  
Andrej Sali ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Xenopus Laevis ◽  
Protein Conformation ◽  
Cell Biology ◽  
Model Organism ◽  
Molecular Function ◽  
Post Translational Modifications ◽  
Regulatory Interactions ◽  
African Clawed Frog ◽  
Regulate Protein ◽  
Clawed Frog

The African clawed frog Xenopus laevis is an important model organism for studies in developmental and cell biology, including cell-signaling. However, our knowledge of X. laevis protein post-translational modifications remains scarce. Here, we used a mass spectrometry-based approach to survey the phosphoproteome of this species, compiling a list of 3225 phosphosites. We used this resource to study the conservation between the phosphoproteomes of X. laevis and 13 other species. We found that the degree of conservation of phosphorylation across species is predictive of sites with known molecular function, kinase interactions and functionally relevant phospho-regulatory interactions. In addition, using comparative protein structure models, we find that phosphosites within structured domains tend to be located at positions with high conformational flexibility. A fraction of sites appear to occur in inaccessible positions and have the potential to regulate protein conformation.

Effect of retinoic acid on limb regeneration in Xenopus laevis

1983 ◽  
Vol 61 (12) ◽  
pp. 2698-2702 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven R. Scadding
Keyword(s):  
Retinoic Acid ◽  
Xenopus Laevis ◽  
Limb Regeneration ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
African Clawed Frog ◽  
Long Term Effect ◽  
Aquarium Water ◽  
Dose Dependent ◽  
Clawed Frog

The objective of this experiment was to determine the effect of retinoic acid on the process of limb regeneration in the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis. Limbs were bilaterally amputated through the radio-ulna and then treated for 15 days with retinoic acid in the aquarium water, at 3, 15, or 75 IU/mL. The retinoic acid inhibited limb regeneration in a dose-dependent manner, reduced the length of the regenerates, and produced irregularities in the morphogenesis of the cartilage rod in the regenerate. The regenerated limbs were removed after 150 days by amputation through the humerus, and the limbs were again allowed to regenerate. In the retinoic acid treated animals, despite the fact that retinoic acid treatment had been discontinued over 4 months previously, limb regeneration was still inhibited. These results suggest that retinoic acid has a long-term effect on the treated animals.

scholarly journals The Cytoskeleton and Its Roles in Self-Organization Phenomena: Insights from Xenopus Egg Extracts

Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 2197
Author(s):  
Zachary M. Geisterfer ◽  
Gabriel Guilloux ◽  
Jesse C. Gatlin ◽  
Romain Gibeaux
Keyword(s):  
Experimental System ◽  
Structure And Function ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
African Clawed Frog ◽  
Egg Extracts ◽  
Xenopus Egg ◽  
The Many ◽  
And Function ◽  
Xenopus Egg Extracts ◽  
Clawed Frog

Self-organization of and by the cytoskeleton is central to the biology of the cell. Since their introduction in the early 1980s, cytoplasmic extracts derived from the eggs of the African clawed-frog, Xenopus laevis, have flourished as a major experimental system to study the various facets of cytoskeleton-dependent self-organization. Over the years, the many investigations that have used these extracts uniquely benefited from their simplified cell cycle, large experimental volumes, biochemical tractability and cell-free nature. Here, we review the contributions of egg extracts to our understanding of the cytoplasmic aspects of self-organization by the microtubule and the actomyosin cytoskeletons as well as the importance of cytoskeletal filaments in organizing nuclear structure and function.

scholarly journals Comparison of molecular and cellular events during lower jaw regeneration of newt (Cynops pyrrhogaster) and West African clawed frog (Xenopus tropicalis)

2007 ◽  
Vol 237 (2) ◽  
pp. 354-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroshi Kurosaka ◽  
Teruko Takano-Yamamoto ◽  
Takashi Yamashiro ◽  
Kiyokazu Agata
Keyword(s):  
West African ◽  
Xenopus Tropicalis ◽  
Cynops Pyrrhogaster ◽  
African Clawed Frog ◽  
Cellular Events ◽  
Lower Jaw ◽  
Clawed Frog

scholarly journals Cloning of Interleukin-10 from African Clawed Frog (Xenopus tropicalis), with the Finding of IL-19/20 Homologue in the IL-10 Locus

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhitao Qi ◽  
Qihuan Zhang ◽  
Zisheng Wang ◽  
Weihong Zhao ◽  
Qian Gao
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Immune Response ◽  
Immune System ◽  
Genomic Structure ◽  
3D Structure ◽  
Interleukin 10 ◽  
Xenopus Tropicalis ◽  
African Clawed Frog ◽  
Clawed Frog ◽  
Sequence Identities

Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is a pleiotropic cytokine that plays an important role in immune system. In the present study, the IL-10 gene of African clawed frog (Xenopus tropicalis) was first cloned, and its expression pattern and 3D structure were also analyzed. The frog IL-10 mRNA encoded 172 amino acids which possessed several conserved features found in IL-10s from other species, including five-exon/four-intron genomic structure, conserved four cysteine residues, IL-10 family motif, and sixα-helices. Real-time PCR showed that frog IL-10 mRNA was ubiquitous expressed in all examined tissues, highly in some immune related tissues including kidney, spleen, and intestine and lowly in heart, stomach, and liver. The frog IL-10 mRNA was upregulated at 24 h after LPS stimulation, indicating that it plays a part in the host immune response to bacterial infection. Another IL, termed as IL-20, was identified from the frog IL-10 locus, which might be the homologue of mammalian IL-19/20 according to the analysis results of the phylogenetic tree and the sequence identities.

scholarly journals Cryptochrome Genes Are Highly Expressed in the Ovary of the African Clawed Frog, Xenopus tropicalis

PLoS ONE ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. e9273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoko Kubo ◽  
Takahiro Takeuchi ◽  
Keiko Okano ◽  
Toshiyuki Okano
Keyword(s):  
Xenopus Tropicalis ◽  
African Clawed Frog ◽  
Clawed Frog

Pan-African phylogeography of a model organism, the African clawed frog ‘Xenopus laevis’

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 909-925 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin L. S. Furman ◽  
Adam J. Bewick ◽  
Tia L. Harrison ◽  
Eli Greenbaum ◽  
Václav Gvoždík ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Xenopus Laevis ◽  
Model Organism ◽  
African Clawed Frog ◽  
Pan African ◽  
Clawed Frog
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