title: Research proceedings on amphibian model organisms.
abstract: Model organisms have long been important in biology and medicine due to their specific characteristics. Amphibians, especially Xenopus, play key roles in answering fundamental questions on developmental biology, regeneration, genetics, and toxicology due to their large and abundant eggs, as well as their versatile embryos, which can be readily manipulated and developed in vivo. Furthermore, amphibians have also proven to be of considerable benefit in human disease research due to their conserved cellular developmental and genomic organization. This review gives a brief introduction on the progress and limitations of these animal models in biology and human disease research, and discusses the potential and challenge of Microhyla fissipes as a new model organism.
authors.affiliation: Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Lu-Sha
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China;University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Lan-Ying
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China;University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Shou-Hong
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China. jiangjp@cib.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Jian-Ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000663:Amphibians / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D002453:Cell Cycle; D006801:Humans; D023421:Models, Animal; D012038:Regeneration; D012107:Research Design; D014116:Toxicology
keywords: Amphibian; Biomedicine; Life Science; Microhyla fissipes; Model organism