These frogs are very easy to maintain and can
be induced up to three times a year to lay eggs with just a simple injection
of hormone. They have very large eggs and the embryos develop quite quickly so
microinjections, extracts and developmental analysis are all quite easy.
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Why Xenopus tropicalis?
Unlike the laevis, the tropicalis are
true diploids, making them ideal for genetic work. Also, the time to sexual maturity
is less in the tropicalis then in the laevis, again making them the better model
for genetics.
