Tissue Development Study Builds on Tools from National Xenopus Resource
By Stephanie M. McPherson
The African clawed frog is a great model to learn more about human disease and development. These frogs (also known as Xenopus laevis) produce many transparent embryos, making it easy to observe development and run a number of experiments at a time. But most impressively, 79 percent of genes associated with human disease have a close cousin in the genes of these frogs. The frog’s genes may not be exactly the same, but they function in similar ways. This means results from disease studies in these frogs have a strong relevance to human disease.
A recent paper in Genetics details how to make the study of these frogs more efficient.
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