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Manipulating and Imaging the Early Xenopus laevis Embryo

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Vertebrate Embryogenesis

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 770))

Abstract

Over the past half century, the Xenopus laevis embryo has become a popular model system for studying vertebrate early development at molecular, cellular, and multicellular levels. The year-round availability of easily fertilized eggs, the embryo’s large size and rapid development, and the hardiness of both adults and offspring against a wide range of laboratory conditions provide unmatched advantages for a variety of approaches, particularly “cutting and pasting” experiments, to explore embryogenesis. There is, however, a common perception that the Xenopus embryo is intractable for microscope work, due to its store of large, refractile yolk platelets and abundant cortical pigmentation. This chapter presents easily adapted protocols to surmount, and in some cases take advantage of, these optical properties to facilitate live-cell microscopic analysis of commonly used experimental manipulations of early Xenopus embryos.

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Acknowledgments

Danilchik’s research is supported by the National Science Foundation (IOS-0921415).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Integrative Biosciences, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA

    Michael V. Danilchik

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  1. Michael V. Danilchik
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Correspondence to Michael V. Danilchik .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Genetics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Henry Mall 425-G, Madison, 53706-1574, Wisconsin, USA

    Francisco J. Pelegri

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Danilchik, M.V. (2011). Manipulating and Imaging the Early Xenopus laevis Embryo. In: Pelegri, F. (eds) Vertebrate Embryogenesis. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 770. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-210-6_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-210-6_2

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-61779-209-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-61779-210-6

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