The Development of Anucleolate Embryos ofXenopus laevis

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Abstract
A Mutation of Xenopus has been found which reduces the maximum number of nucleoli per diploid nucleus from 2 in the wild-type to 1 in heterozygotes. Homozygous mutants possess no true nucleoli, hence being termed anucleolate. They do, however, possess pyronine-staining intranuclear organelles that are smaller and more numerous than typical nucleoli. The mutation can be considered as a recessive larval lethal, unlinked to sex: heterozygotes of both sexes are fully viable, but anucleolate larvae die at about the time their sibs begin to feed. These points have been recorded in two preliminary reports (Elsdale, Fischberg & Smith, 1958; Fischberg & Wallace, 1960). The development of anucleolate embryos is described here as a basis for the design of an experimental analysis of the ways in which the mutation acts. The description rests mainly on the progeny of a single mating of heterozygous toads, conforming with notes made on other such matings, from which additional data are drawn when required.

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