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Comparative and developmental study of the immune system in Xenopus
Author(s) -
Robert Jacques,
Ohta Yuko
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
developmental dynamics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.634
H-Index - 141
eISSN - 1097-0177
pISSN - 1058-8388
DOI - 10.1002/dvdy.21891
Subject(s) - xenopus , biology , genome , computational biology , immune system , major histocompatibility complex , mutagenesis , genetics , evolutionary biology , gene , mutation
Xenopus laevis is the model of choice for evolutionary, comparative, and developmental studies of immunity, and invaluable research tools including MHC‐defined clones, inbred strains, cell lines, and monoclonal antibodies are available for these studies. Recent efforts to use Silurana ( Xenopus ) tropicalis for genetic analyses have led to the sequencing of the whole genome. Ongoing genome mapping and mutagenesis studies will provide a new dimension to the study of immunity. Here we review what is known about the immune system of X. laevis integrated with available genomic information from S. tropicalis . This review provides compelling evidence for the high degree of similarity and evolutionary conservation between Xenopus and mammalian immune systems. We propose to build a powerful and innovative comparative biomedical model based on modern genetic technologies that takes take advantage of X. laevis and S. tropicalis , as well as the whole Xenopus genus. Developmental Dynamics 238:1249–1270, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.