Frog Development: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:42, 29 March 2010

Introduction

There are several different species of frog that have been used in many developmental studies. The frog was historically used by many of the early embryology investigators and currently there are many different molecular mechanisms concerning development of the frog.

The frog Xenopus laevis (African clawed frog, taxon) has been used in many embryological and electrophysiological studies (More? see Cell lineages). The advantages of this frog is the fertility cycle can be easliy controlled and the eggs develop entirely independently and easily visible to the investigator. You can see an overview of the Frog life cycle with links to specific stages as well as movies of the early process of gastrulation. Localization of maternal messenger RNA (eg vegetal and review) appears to play a key role in the development of early embryological patterns.

The frog species Rana pipiens (Leopard frog) in 1952 became the first successful nuclear transfer experiment. Nuclear transfer is an embryological technique, and involves removal of the nucleus from an egg and replacement with the nucleus of another donor cell. This experiment paved the way for what we know today as the field of cloning. (More? read recent PNAS Article Nuclear Transfer: Bringing in the Clones | Original 1952 Paper Briggs, R. & King, T. J. (1952) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 38, 455-463.)

In Australia Bufo marinus (cane toad) was a species introduced in 1935 to control cane insect pests. It has itself become an introduced pest and has also been studied/used more in order to try and biologically control. The area which they occupy has continued to expand. The toad has a poisonous secretion that is extremely toxic and should be handled with care at all times.

Links: 2009 ANAT2341 Group Project - Frog | original frog page

Some Recent Findings

Repression of zygotic gene expression in the Xenopus germline. Venkatarama T, Lai F, Luo X, Zhou Y, Newman K, King ML. Development. 2010 Feb;137(4):651-60. PMID: 20110330

"Primordial germ cells (PGCs) in Xenopus are specified through the inheritance of germ plasm. During gastrulation, PGCs remain totipotent while surrounding cells in the vegetal mass become committed to endoderm through the action of the vegetal localized maternal transcription factor VegT. We find that although PGCs contain maternal VegT RNA, they do not express its downstream targets at the mid-blastula transition (MBT)."

Gene switching at Xenopus laevis metamorphosis. Mukhi S, Cai L, Brown DD. Dev Biol. 2010 Feb 15;338(2):117-26. Epub 2009 Nov 5. PMID: 19896938

"During the climax of amphibian metamorphosis many tadpole organs remodel. The different remodeling strategies are controlled by thyroid hormone (TH). The liver, skin, and tail fibroblasts shut off tadpole genes and activate frog genes in the same cell without DNA replication. We refer to this as "gene switching". In contrast, the exocrine pancreas and the intestinal epithelium dedifferentiate to a progenitor state and then redifferentiate to the adult cell type."

Taxon

Xenopus Laevis

Eukaryotae; mitochondrial eukaryotes; Metazoa; Chordata;Vertebrata; Amphibia; Batrachia; Anura; Mesobatrachia; Pipoidea;Pipidae; Xenopodinae; Xenopus

Rana pipiens

Taxonomy Id: 8404 Preferred common name: northern leopard frog Rank: species

Genetic code: Translation table 1 (Standard) Mitochondrial genetic code: Translation table 2 Lineage( abbreviated ):

Eukaryota; Metazoa; Chordata; Craniata; Vertebrata; Amphibia; Batrachia; Anura; Neobatrachia; Ranoidea; Ranidae; Raninae; Rana

References

Search Pubmed: frog development | xenopus development

Historic Embryology
1897 Pig \| 1900 Chicken \| 1901 Lungfish \| 1904 Sand Lizard \| 1905 Rabbit \| 1906 Deer \| 1907 Tarsiers \| 1908 Human \| 1909 Northern Lapwing \| 1909 South American and African Lungfish \| 1910 Salamander \| 1951 Frog \| Embryology History \| Historic Disclaimer

Glossary Links

Glossary: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | Numbers | Symbols | Term Link

Cite this page: Hill, M.A. (2024, May 3) Embryology Frog Development. Retrieved from https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php/Frog_Development

What Links Here?

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 :"Primordial germ cells (PGCs) in Xenopus are specified through the inheritance of germ plasm. During gastrulation, PGCs remain totipotent while surrounding cells in the vegetal mass become committed to endoderm through the action of the vegetal localized maternal transcription factor VegT. We find that although PGCs contain maternal VegT RNA, they do not express its downstream targets at the mid-blastula transition (MBT)."
+'''Gene switching at Xenopus laevis metamorphosis.''' Mukhi S, Cai L, Brown DD. Dev Biol. 2010 Feb 15;338(2):117-26. Epub 2009 Nov 5. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19896938 PMID: 19896938]
+:"During the climax of amphibian metamorphosis many tadpole organs remodel. The different remodeling strategies are controlled by thyroid hormone (TH). The liver, skin, and tail fibroblasts shut off tadpole genes and activate frog genes in the same cell without DNA replication. We refer to this as "gene switching". In contrast, the exocrine pancreas and the intestinal epithelium dedifferentiate to a progenitor state and then redifferentiate to the adult cell type."
 ==Taxon==