Salamanders in Research


Salamanders have served as model organisms for more than a century. A majority of the earliest embryological and morphological analyses of vertebrate development were conducted using salamander embryos. Today, salamanders continue to be the best animal models for several areas of research and a new generation of researchers are adopting salamanders – and in particular the Mexican axolotl - as their primary animal model.  This webpage provides links to projects that are developing genomic and genetic resources to enhance the axolotl model.

Fun Facts

What determines whether an axolotl will grow up to be male or female?

Axolotls have genetic sex-determination - a locus on an axolotl chromosome determines whether an axolotl is male or female.

In salamanders, the sex determining mechanism is referred to as ZZ/ZW and the heterogametic sex is female.

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