the cement gland (cg) is a transient organ, found in most anuran embryos and early larvae and located normally on the front of the head. its sticky secretion allows newly hatched larvae to attach to the egg jelly or to another support later and remain hidden and stationary until feeding starts. our ultrastructural studies showed that prominence structure of the cg in some species exists, but is...

Microtubule plus-end dynamics are regulated by a family of proteins called plus-end tracking proteins (+TIPs). We recently demonstrated that the transforming acidic coiled-coil (TACC) domain family member, TACC3, can function as a +TIP to regulate microtubule dynamics in Xenopus laevis embryonic cells. Although it has been previously reported that TACC3 is the only TACC family member that exist...

Culture of lymphocytes from adult Xenopus laevis (Daudin) (a pipid anuran amphibian) with mitogens (PHA, ConA, LPS and PWM) reveals a wide variation in the mitogen sensitivity of these cells: relatively high concentrations of mitogen are required to stimulate Xenopus lymphocytes compared with the concentrations appropriate for mammalian lymphocytes. Significantly better responses are obtained u...

Aphidicolin, a known inhibitor of eucaryotic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) polymerase alpha, efficiently inhibited amplification of ribosomal DNA during oogenesis in Xenopus laevis. DNA polymerase alpha, but not DNA polymerase gamma, as isolated from ovaries, was sensitive to aphidicolin. DNA polymerase beta was not detectable in Xenopus ovary extracts. Therefore, DNA polymerase alpha plays a maj...

Poly(A)-containing RNA was isolated from ovaries of Xenopus laevis laevis and Triturus cristatus carnifex and used as a template for the synthesis of radioactive complementary DNA with RNA-dependent DNA polymerase. When annealed with an excess of homologous DNA, the complementary DNA is rendered double-stranded with kinetics that suggest that the coding sequences are single-copy in both these o...

We have successfully expressed and characterized mechanosensitive channel of small conductance (MscS) from Escherichia coli in oocytes of the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis. MscS expressed in oocytes has the same single-channel conductance and voltage dependence as the channel in its native environment. Two hallmarks of MscS activity, the presence of conducting substates at high potentials...