Emerging Model Organisms

The Western Clawed Frog (Xenopus tropicalis): An Emerging Vertebrate Model for Developmental Genetics and Environmental Toxicology

¹ UNC McAllister Heart Institute, Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
² Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
³ Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA

⁴Corresponding author (chris_showell{at}med.unc.edu).

INTRODUCTION

Xenopus tropicalis, also known as Silurana tropicalis or the Western clawed frog, is a small, wholly aquatic frog that is found in the countries that lie along the west coast of equatorial Africa from Gabon to Sierra Leone. It is a diploid relative of Xenopus laevis, a frog that has found many uses in laboratories throughout the world. X. tropicalis closely resembles its relative in anatomy throughout its life cycle. It shares its advantages as a model organism for studying many aspects of vertebrate biology, particularly the genetic, biochemical, and environmental factors that influence vertebrate development from embryonic stages through adulthood. It also shares much of its biology with more distantly related species, including mammals, but unlike mammalian model organisms, routine manipulation of X. tropicalis in the laboratory can produce thousands of embryos for experimental analysis. X. tropicalis is also finding uses as an important test species for assessing the impact of environmental toxins and disease on amphibians, which are in decline in many areas of the world due to waterborne pollutants and infectious agents such as the chytrid fungus.