Nasco will stop selling Xenopus

Nasco will be closing down live animal sales as of March 31, 2021.

In the short term, they still have frogs for sale.

Click here to visit their website.

Click below to read about other options to buy frogs after that date.

18th International Xenopus Conference

The 18th International Xenopus Conference will be going ahead as planned, either as a virtual or a blended meeting. August 15-19, 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.

Notch signaling induces cell death or cell fate change of multiciliated cells

Tasca et al. describe how multiciliated cells are removed from airway-like mucociliary epithelia during developmental tissue remodeling. In addition to cell death, these highly specialized cells can also change their identity toward another cell type, which was considered impossible, challenging the concept of terminal differentiation. Published in Developmental Cell.

hps4 gene responsible for periodic albino in Xenopus

Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome type 4 is a human hypopigmentaion and bleeding disorder. Mutations in the hsp4 gene in Xenopus results in lower pigmentation in the eyes and skin. Periodic albino mutant X. laevis may be a useful model in studying this human syndrome.

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).

Xenbase Winter Newsletter 2020

Please follow this link to the Xenbase Winter Newsletter 2020.

Read the PDF for more details.

The newsletter archive can be found here.

Epigenetic sperm programming

Sperm contribute genetic and epigenetic information to the embryo. Oikawa et al. published in Nature Communications show homogeneously methylated histone H3 at the same genomic locations in most sperm cells.

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

Nasco will stop selling Xenopus

Nasco will be closing down live animal sales as of March 31, 2021.

In the short term, they still have frogs for sale.

Click here to visit their website.

Click below to read about other options to buy frogs after that date.