The African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis, also known as the xenopus, African clawed toad, African claw-toed frog or the platanna) is a species of African aquaticfrog of the Pipidae family. Its name is derived from the three short claws on each hind foot, which it uses to tear apart its food. The word Xenopus means "strange foot" and laevis means "smooth".
African clawed frogs can grow up to a length of 5in (13cm). They have a flattened head and body, but no tongue or external ears.
The species is found throughout much of Sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria and Sudan to South Africa), and in isolated, introduced populations in North America, South America, and Europe. All species of the Pipidae family are tongueless, toothless and completely aquatic. They use their hands to shove food in their mouths and down their throats and a hyobranchial pump to draw or suck things in their mouth. Pipidae have powerful legs for swimming and lunging after food. They also use the claws on their feet to tear pieces of large food. They lack true ears but have lateral lines running down the length of the body and underside, which is how they can sense movements and vibrations in the water. They use their sensitive fingers, sense of smell, and lateral line system to find food. Pipidae are scavengers and will eat almost anything living, dying, or dead and any type of organic waste.
Xenopus (/ˈzɛnəpəs/) (Gk., ξενος, xenos=strange, πους, pous=foot, commonly known as the clawed frog) is a genus of highly aquatic frogs native to sub-Saharan Africa. Twenty species are currently described in the Xenopus genus. The two best-known species of this genus are Xenopus laevis and Xenopus tropicalis, which are commonly studied as model organisms for developmental biology, cell biology, toxicology, neuroscience and for modelling human disease and birth defects.
Characteristics
Description
All species of Xenopus have flattened, somewhat egg-shaped and streamlined bodies, and very slippery skin (because of a protective mucus covering). The frog's skin is smooth, but with a lateral line sensory organ that has a stitch-like appearance. The frogs are all excellent swimmers and have powerful, fully webbed toes, though the fingers lack webbing. Three of the toes on each foot have conspicuous black claws.
Researchers have uncovered unexpected diversity in the genetic processes that determine the sex of the African clawed frog, a significant discovery in what was already one of the most widely studied amphibians in the world ... .
African clawed frog sex determination challenges prevailing theory (2024, December 16) retrieved 16 December 2024 from https.//phys.org/news/2024-12-rapid-evolution-african-clawed-frog.html.
Why are they called robots then? Well, it all started when scientist Michael Levin claimed he had created “biological robots” from the cells of an African clawed frog and claimed these robots were a new type of organism.
“OSER1 is present in the genomes of various species including nematodes, silkworms, fruit flies, zebrafish, African clawed frogs, mice, rhesus monkeys, and humans,” said Song Jiangbo from National Key ...
The research from Zhao, et ... In the Yan lab, researchers utilized eggs from female Xenopus laevis (African clawed frogs) to produce high-speed supernatant (HSS) egg extracts, later introducing purified plasmid DNA structures from E. coli ... DOI ... Citation.
There’s a visit to the Santa Clarita Valley by Gerald Ford, an invasion by giant African frogs and something you don’t see much anymore ...OIL ... AND NONE OF THEM NAMED, “KERMIT” — Somehow, several African clawed frogs showed up in the wilds of Agua Dulce.
New 3D anatomical atlas of the African clawed frog increases understanding of development and metamorphosis processes (2024, July 16) retrieved 16 July 2024 from https.//phys.org/news/2024-07-3d-anatomical-atlas-african-clawed.html.
The study has been published in the journal Nature Communications... It is therefore not surprising that so far only a single sex-determining gene has been identified in a frequently studied model species, the African clawed frog ... More information ... DOI.
waterways, could castrate male frogs and even make them change their gender. Researchers exposed male African clawed frog larvae to atrazine in a laboratory, and discovered that 10 percent of them went on to become “completely feminized” adults.
As a result, frog embryos were able to repair and recover from nicotine-induced defects ... The lab's Xenobots are millimeter-wide blobs made from several different kinds of cells taken from Xenopus laevis, the African clawed frog.
(a) Goat (b) Monkey (c) African clawed frog (d) Humans ANSWERS TO THE MCQs 1 ... machines\u201d \u2014 tiny robots built from the cells of the African clawed frog, that can move around on their own.
" ...The research builds on earlier work from some of the same scientists, who made the first living robots, or xenobots, from stem cells sourced from embryos of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis)... It's this self-assembly that makes them unique ... .
More than half of the world’s population live in urban areas where nature can feel like a distant concern ...The research builds on the first living robots, or xenobots, which were made from stem cells sourced from the embryos of African clawed frogs ... .
The microscopic "robots" were created from human lung cells ... The same research team had previously created similar tiny robots, or xenobots, from cells sourced from embryos of the African clawed frog ... This has nothing to do with being a frog ... ....
