Lecture 'Meet the Expert - At the Crossroads of Land and Water: Immune Evolution and Environmental Immunity in the Amphibian Xenopus'

The immune system of amphibians such as Xenopus bridges the evolutionary gap between fish and amniotes (reptiles, birds, mammals).

Xenopus possesses both innate and adaptive immune components, but with notable differences from mammalian immunity (e.g. Xenopus metamorphosis creates a unique immunological challenge: the larval immune system is deliberately tolerogenic, presumably to avoid autoimmune rejection of adult tissues that emerge during metamorphosis).

In terms of host–pathogen interactions, Xenopus has gained significant attention for understanding disease driven amphibian declines.

The latter are emblematic for the current biodiversity loss, the sixth mass extinction, which is considered a major societal challenge. Understanding host responses to infection is key for designing sustainable and long term disease mitigation strategies. 

Hence, the Xenopus immune system is not only evolutionary informative but also of direct relevance to amphibian conservation biology.