Joint Genome Institute (JGI) Frog Genome Featured on Cover of Science

The Science

The draft genome sequence of the Western clawed frog, Xenopus tropicalis, a sentinel species for potential impacts of environmental contamination and climate change has just been reported in Science (and featured on the cover of the journal). The western clawed frog Xenopus tropicalis is an important model for vertebrate development. X. tropicalis displays rapid and easily monitored embryonic development along with tractable genetics. Uffe Hellsten of the Joint Genome Institute, with 48 co-authors from 24 institutions, presents an X. tropicalis draft genome sequence assembly that encodes more than 20,000 protein-coding genes compared to an estimated 23,000 genes in the human genome. The frog genome exhibits substantial organizational similarity (in terms of gene order) with human and chicken genomes over major parts of large chromosomes. Amphibians such as the frog have become highly important for scientific studies on environmental pollution, as harbingers of toxins produced by industrial and other activities, and for interpreting and understanding the human genome. The frog genome includes more than 1700 genes with identified human disease associations.

Principal Investigator

Uffe Hellsten
DOE Joint Genome Institute

BER Program Manager

Ramana Madupu

U.S. Department of Energy, Biological and Environmental Research (SC-33)
Biological Systems Science Division
[email protected]

References

Hellsten, U., R. M. Harland, M. J. Gilchrist, D. Hendrix, J. Jurka, V. Kapitonov, I. Ovcharenko, N. H. Putnam, S. Shu, L. Taher, I. L. Blitz, B. Blumberg, D. S. Dichmann, I. Dubchak, E. Amaya, J. C. Detter, R. Fletcher, D. S. Gerhard, D. Goodstein, T. Graves, I. V. Grigoriev, J. Grimwood, T. Kawashima, E. Lindquist, S. M. Lucas, P. E. Mead, T. Mitros, H. Ogino, Y. Ohta, A. V. Poliakov, N. Pollet, J. Robert, A. Salamov, A. K. Sater, J. Schmutz, A. Terry, P. D. Vize, W. C. Warren, D. Wells, A. Wills, R. K. Wilson, L. B. Zimmerman, A. M. Zorn, R. Grainger, T. Grammer, M. K. Khokha, R. M. Richardson, and D. S. Rokhsar. 2010. “The Genome of the Western Clawed Frog Xenopus tropicalis,” Science 328, 633–6. DOI:10.1126/science.1183670.