Analytical Approach to the Developmental Proteomics of Xenopus laevis

Developmental biology and analytical mass spectrometry have historically been approached separately and not integrated, minimizing the impact of each discipline. Being able to interpret and describe the biological relevance of analytically collected samples is often difficult because of poor bioinformatics and scientific communication relating the two disciplines. Xenopus laevis (African Clawed frog) is a popular model organism used in developmental and molecular biology. I exploited the benefits and long history of Xenopus laevis to develop sensitive shot-gun proteomic mass spectrometry techniques for the analysis and monitoring of the proteome during development. In this work, I assimilate known developmental biology and the capabilities of mass spectrometry to develop a pipeline to study the developmental proteomic changes occurring in Xenopus laevis beginning with oocyte development and tracing development through the basis of early neural formation, and into single cell analysis.