Frog genome to provide clues to development
17 Jun 2010 by Evoluted New Media
The genome of Xenopus tropicalis – a frog with genes similar to humans and mice – has been sequenced by a team of international scientists.
The genome of Xenopus tropicalis – a frog with genes similar to humans and mice – has been sequenced by a team of international scientists.
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Xenopus tropicalis chromosomes: fluorescent bands indicate the location of specific landmarks on the genetic map created by researchers at the University of Houston and Baylor College of Medicine Credit: Vladimir Krylov |
The frog is an important model for understanding embryonic development, regulation of cell division and key communication pathways. Experiments can be carried out more quickly and at a cheaper cost in Xenopus than in humans or mice.
“Working out the biochemical mechanism is extremely difficult to do in a mouse embryo,” said Amy Sater, professor in the University of Houston’s department of biology and biochemistry, “We can obtain hundreds of these frog embryos that are developing synchronously, and because they are fertilised and develop outside the mother, we can watch and manipulate specific events much more easily and on a much larger scale than in mouse embryos.”
Sater and her colleague, Dan Wells – also a professor at Houston – contributed to assembling the genome and collaborated with scientists from the Human Genome Sequencing Centre at Baylor College of Medicine to generate a genetic map. Sequencing – which Sater likened to putting together a 10,000-piece jigsaw without having a detailed picture to work from – was completed by their colleagues at the University of California, Berkley.
“Sequencing and assembling a genome is basically science infrastructure – the equivalent of building roads and bridges – and once the infrastructure is in place, everyone can benefit,” Sater said, “This work is an enormous contribution to the research now in progress throughout the world, and essentially every study that uses Xenopus as a research animal gets a big boost from this project.”
The study will help shed light on embryonic development, with implications for preventing birth defects and effective treatments for human diseases. It will also be use to study communication pathways which are critical to controlling how many cells form brain, limb and muscle cells and the pancreas.
“This particular frog is a terrific animal in which to study these pathways because you can study the biochemistry of how the pathways work, as well as what the pathway is actually doing in developing embryos,” said Sater.
