title: Transgenic Xenopus laevis for live imaging in cell and developmental biology.
abstract: The stable transgenesis of genes encoding functional or spatially localized proteins, fused to fluorescent proteins such as green fluorescent protein (GFP) or red fluorescent protein (RFP), is an extremely important research tool in cell and developmental biology. Transgenic organisms constructed with fluorescent labels for cell membranes, subcellular organelles, and functional proteins have been used to investigate cell cycles, lineages, shapes, and polarity, in live animals and in cells or tissues derived from these animals. Genes of interest have been integrated and maintained in generations of transgenic animals, which have become a valuable resource for the cell and developmental biology communities. Although the use of Xenopus laevis as a transgenic model organism has been hampered by its relatively long reproduction time (compared to Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans), its large embryonic cells and the ease of manipulation in early embryos have made it a historically valuable preparation that continues to have tremendous research potential. Here, we report on the Xenopus laevis transgenic lines our lab has generated and discuss their potential use in biological imaging.
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Basic Biology, 38 Nishigonaka, Myodaiji, Okazaki, 444-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Chiyo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Takagi
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sakamaki
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Morita
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Noriyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kinoshita
authors.forename: Naoto
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ueno
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D017209:Apoptosis; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D015509:Developmental Biology / Q000379:methods*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D005821:Genetic Techniques; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008870:Microtubules / Q000378:metabolism; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D019076:Transgenes; D051598:Whole Body Imaging; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000235:genetics*; D000097573:Red Fluorescent Protein
chemical_list: D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D000097573:Red Fluorescent Protein