title: Budgett's frog (Lepidobatrachus laevis): A new amphibian embryo for developmental biology.
abstract: The large size and rapid development of amphibian embryos has facilitated ground-breaking discoveries in developmental biology. Here, we describe the embryogenesis of the Budgett's frog (Lepidobatrachus laevis), an unusual species with eggs that are over twice the diameter of laboratory Xenopus, and embryos that can tolerate higher temperatures to develop into a tadpole four times more rapidly. In addition to detailing their early development, we demonstrate that, like Xenopus, these embryos are amenable to explant culture assays and can express exogenous transcripts in a tissue-specific manner. Moreover, the steep developmental trajectory and large scale of Lepidobatrachus make it exceptionally well-suited for morphogenesis research. For example, the developing organs of the Budgett's frog are massive compared to those of most model species, and are composed of larger individual cells, thereby affording increased subcellular resolution of early vertebrate organogenesis. Furthermore, we found that complete limb regeneration, which typically requires months to achieve in most vertebrate models, occurs in a matter of days in the Budgett's tadpole, which substantially accelerates the pace of experimentation. Thus, the unusual combination of the greater size and speed of the Budgett's frog model provides inimitable advantages for developmental studies-and a novel inroad to address the mechanisms of spatiotemporal scaling during evolution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences, 1060 William Moore Drive, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27607, USA.
authors.forename: Nirav M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Amin
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences, 1060 William Moore Drive, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27607, USA.
authors.forename: Mandy
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Womble
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Indiana University, 915 E, Third St., Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ledon-Rettig
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences, 1060 William Moore Drive, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27607, USA.
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hull
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1000W, Cary St. Richmond, VA 23284, USA.
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dickinson
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences, 1060 William Moore Drive, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27607, USA. Electronic address: nmnascon@ncsu.edu.
authors.forename: Nanette
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nascone-Yoder
mesh_terms: D000663:Amphibians; D000818:Animals; D001001:Anura / Q000196:embryology*; D019070:Cell Lineage; D015509:Developmental Biology; D047108:Embryonic Development; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D023421:Models, Animal; D009024:Morphogenesis; D038081:Organogenesis; D012038:Regeneration; D013045:Species Specificity; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Amphibian; Embryo; Lepidobatrachus; Scaling; Stages; Xenopus