Studies on Xenopus laevis intestine reveal biological pathways underlying vertebrate gut adaptation from embryo to adult.

ABSTRACT:

Background

To adapt to its changing dietary environment, the digestive tract is extensively remodeled from the embryo to the adult during vertebrate development. Xenopus laevis metamorphosis is an excellent model system for studying mammalian gastrointestinal development and is used to determine the genes and signaling programs essential for intestinal development and maturation.

Results

The metamorphosing intestine can be divided into four distinct developmental time points and these were analyzed with X. laevis microarrays. Due to the high level of conservation in developmental signaling programs and homology to mammalian genes, annotations and bioinformatics analysis were based on human orthologs. Clustering of the expression patterns revealed co-expressed genes involved

SUBMITTER: Heimeier RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2898076 | biostudies-literature | 2010

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature