When ancestral Xenopus returned to water ~170mya, they evolved a new method for producing courtship calls underwater without airflow, using vibrations that also preserve essential acoustic information on species identity.

Molecular labeling, electrophysiology and calcium imaging have revealed a novel switching of neurotransmitter at the frog neuromuscular junction where motoneurons transiently release glutamate before acetylcholine at synapses on developing hindlimb muscles at the onset of metamorphosis.

TMEM79 targets frizzled receptor for degradation through inhibiting USP8 and is required for Xenopus embryogenesis.

A combination of in vivo and in vitro approaches using Xenopus eggs and embryos reveals how dimensions of mitotic chromosomes scale with decreasing cell size and increasing nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio during early embryogenesis.

Yap interacts with Rif1, a major DNA replication timing factor, and functions as a brake to control the DNA replication program in Xenopus early embryos and post-embryonic stem cells.

Two cancer related proteins, tyrosine phosphatase PTPRK and ubiquitin ligase ZNRF3, interact to downregulate Wnt receptors, thereby regulating Spemann organizer function during Xenopus development.

Tubulin engages unique lateral interactions without longitudinal ones during microtubule polymerization, leaving holes of a few subunits size potentially at the origin of tubulin exchange within their shaft.

The diversity of electrophysiological phenotypes of neurons in a functional network increases over development, but can be modulated, and even reduced by sensory experience; allowing them to adapt to a changing and growing brain.

Xenopus laevis arose from hybridization of two different frog species millions of years ago, leading to adaptation of the genetic networks controlling early embryonic development and stem cell induction to balance expression between the genes inherited from each ancestor.

Although courtship vocalizations are unique to each species, the basic architecture of the neural circuitries underlying this behavior is conserved among closely related species of frogs, suggesting behavior can diverge while utilizing the homologous neural network inherited through evolutionary lineage.