Budgett's frog (Lepidobatrachus laevis): A new amphibian embryo for developmental biology

摘要

Thelargesizeandrapiddevelopmentofamphibianembryoshasfacilitatedground-breakingdiscoveriesindevelopmentalbiology.Here,wedescribetheembryogenesisoftheBudgett'sfrog(emLepidobatrachuslaevis/em),anunusualspecieswitheggsthatareovertwicethediameteroflaboratoryemXenopus/em,andembryosthatcantoleratehighertemperaturestodevelopintoatadpolefourtimesmorerapidly.Inadditiontodetailingtheirearlydevelopment,wedemonstratethat,likeemXenopus/em,theseembryosareamenabletoexplantcultureassaysandcanexpressexogenoustranscriptsinatissue-specificmanner.Moreover,thesteepdevelopmentaltrajectoryandlargescaleofemLepidobatrachus/emmakeitexceptionallywell-suitedformorphogenesisresearch.Forexample,thedevelopingorgansoftheBudgett'sfrogaremassivecomparedtothoseofmostmodelspecies,andarecomposedoflargerindividualcells,therebyaffordingincreasedsubcellularresolutionofearlyvertebrateorganogenesis.Furthermore,wefoundthatcompletelimbregeneration,whichtypicallyrequiresmonthstoachieveinmostvertebratemodels,occursinamatterofdaysintheBudgett'stadpole,whichsubstantiallyacceleratesthepaceofexperimentation.Thus,theunusualcombinationofthegreatersizeandspeedoftheBudgett'sfrogmodelprovidesinimitableadvantagesfordevelopmentalstudiesmdash;andanovelinroadtoaddressthemechanismsofspatiotemporalscalingduringevolution./p/div