18th International Xenopus Conference

The 18th International Xenopus Conference will be held virtually with an in-person event. August 15-19, 2021.

Registration now open.

See the conference brochure.

Official conference website.

ModelMatcher

a new registry connecting Scientists and Clinicians

• Use your Xenopus expertise to help patients and clinicians
• Boost the clinical significance of your Xenopus research
• Share your genes of interest
• Xenopus research is supported by ModelMatcher

Visit ModelMatcher to register

Click the link: https://www.modelmatcher.net

SDB 80th Annual Meeting

Society for Developmental Biology
80th Annual Meeting
Virtual, July 12-16, 2021

Registration Deadline is June 14, 2021, 11:59 PM ET

Eddy De Robertis to receive SDB Lifetime Achievement Award

The Scf/Kit pathway implements self-organised epithelial patterning

Social distancing is no mystery to Xenopus cells! Chuyen et al. report how thousands of multiciliated cells distribute into a regular pattern in the developing epidermis, through homotypic repulsion and homing at intercalation sites. Published in Developmental Cell.

Biallelic variants in COPB1 cause a novel, severe intellectual disability syndrome with cataracts and variable microcephaly

CRISPR/Cas9-mediated mutation of Coat protein complex 1 (COPI) subunit COPB1 in X. tropicalis recapitulates features of the human "coatopathy" syndrome including microcephaly and cataracts. Published in Genome Medicine.

Genesis Special Issue: Aquatic Models of Developmental Disorders

Published February 2021

Chromatin accessibility and transcription factor activity (during gastrulation)

Single‐cell chromatin‐accessibility and transcriptomic analyses identify the contribution and cooperation of key transcription factors in zygotic gene expression. Transcriptional heterogeneity at the gastrula stage of vertebrate embryogenesis is involved in mesoderm induction, dorsal‐ventral patterning, and establishment of the dorsal axis. Bright et al. published in EMBO J.

Lrp2-mediated endocytosis is essential for neural tube closure

Kowalczyk et al. identify a conserved role for Lrp2 in anterior neural tube closure and forebrain development. Loss of Lrp2 affects both apical constriction as well as planar cell polarity. Published in Development.

Eddy De Robertis conferred SDB lifetime achievement award

Dr. Edward (Eddy) M. De Robertis, Distinguished Professor, Biological Chemistry, Norman F. Sprague Chair of Molecular Oncology Investigator, University of California Los Angeles and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, has been awarded the 2021 Society of Developmental Biology Lifetime Achievement Award.

Phenotypes on Xenbase

The latest release of Xenbase includes the ability to search for Phenotypes.

Click here to go to the Phenotype search page.

Click here to find details on executing a Phenotype search.

Click here to find details on the Xenopus Phenotype Ontology (XPO).

Xenopus tropicalis v10 genome

- available to BLAST

- view on JBrowse

99.86% of the genome mapped to chromosomes
~4500 new and refined models, 18% not present in trop v9.1

Click here to view the release document.

2020 Xenopus White Paper

The 2020 Xenopus Community White Paper is now available!

PIs: Please reference the White Paper in your NIH grant proposals and contact your program officers.

Download the 2020 Xenopus White Paper:

Word Document

PDF

18th International Xenopus Conference

The 18th International Xenopus Conference will be held virtually with an in-person event. August 15-19, 2021.

Registration now open.

See the conference brochure.

Official conference website.