Xenopus, from basic biology to disease models in the genomic era
Dear Xenopus Community,
We are compiling a book titled “Xenopus, from basic biology to disease models in the genomic era”, to be published by Taylor and Francis CRC Press. The purpose of this book is to review the contributions of Xenopus as an experimental system to many fields of biology, including but not limited to cell biology, gene regulation, biochemistry, neurobiology, developmental biology and genomics. We envision that chapters will be a resource on the usefulness of the Xenopus experimental system for community members, as well as biomedical researchers using other models. We wish to include the classical and novel approaches developed in the Xenopus system and emphasize its usefulness for solving pressing biomedical issues related to human health.
We are writing to the Xenopus community to suggest topics as well as to contribute chapters to this important project. We include below a preliminary Table of Contents that includes chapters we believe must be included. We are seeking contributors for these chapters, but in addition invite your suggestions for additional chapters. We would like each chapter to include an historical perspective, a summary of the field up until recent years, a current state of the field including your own work and outlooks for the future.
We would appreciate your suggestions and a note on whether you are interested in contributing by May 15th, 2020 so we can finalize the ToC. We would like chapters to be submitted by January 2021. We are very excited to lead this project and to have your expertise represented.
With very best wishes,
Abraham Fainsod, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (abraham.fainsod@mail.huji.ac.il)
Sally Moody, George Washington University (samoody@gwu.edu)
Xenopus: from basic biology to disease models in the genomic era
Preliminary ToC
Section I: Contributions to Cell, Developmental and Molecular Biology
This section should emphasize the contributions that Xenopus has made to basic cell, developmental and molecular biology summarizing past contributions, current research and future directions.
Chapter 1: Amphibian contributions to experimental embryology, including: (a) Classical: Morgan, Harrison, Spemann, Roux; (b) Introduction of Xenopus to the field of experimental biology; (c) Work leading to current research in molecular developmental biology and regeneration.
Chapter 2: Cell cycle and the discovery of cell cycle components.
Chapter 3: Maternal gene control of embryogenesis, including germ layer formation.
Chapter 4: Signaling pathways in dorsal-ventral patterning including the Organizer.
Chapter 5: Signaling pathways in anterior-posterior patterning.
Chapter 6: Signaling pathways (e.g., Wnt PCP) regulating morphogenetic movements.
Chapter 7: Forces, cell shape changes and stress that regulate morphogenetic movements, cell division and signaling pathways (including Hippo pathway).
Chapter 8: The regulation of neural crest cell differentiation and migration.
Chapter 9: Using oocytes for functional analysis of membrane and secreted proteins.
Section II: From Basic Biological Insights to Human Disease
This section should emphasize the advantages of Xenopus in biomedical research and the efforts to elucidate the etiology of human disease and to establish human disease models including regeneration.
About 10 chapters suggested by the community
Section III: Systems Biology and the Genomic Era
This section should emphasize system level approaches implemented in Xenopus to understand basic biological processes and human disease.
Chapter 20: Systems biology analyses of Xenopus embryogenesis
Chapter 21: Chromatin assembly and epigenetics
Chapter 22: Quantitative proteomics
Chapter 23: Xenopus genome evolution
Chapter 24: Advances in genome manipulation and editing