Xenopus egg extract to study regulation of genome-wide and locus-specific DNA replication.

What is it about?

Xenopus egg extract enables in vitro reproduction of the steps occurring during eukaryotic DNA replication. This review examines how Xenopus egg extracts have been used to study cellular and molecular processes, such as DNA replication and DNA repair. In particular, we will focus on innovative imaging and proteomic-based experimental approaches to characterize the molecular function of a number of essential DNA metabolism factors involved in the duplication of complex vertebrate genomes.

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Why is it important?

The cell-free Xenopus laevis egg extract represents an ideal system to overcome survival issues and to facilitate the biochemical study of replication-associated functions of essential proteins in vertebrate organisms.