Manipulation of Developmental Function in Turtles with Notes on Alligators.

Area of Science:

• Comparative and evolutionary developmental biology
• Herpetology
• Embryology

Background:

• Reptiles exhibit significant taxonomic diversity impacting their development.
• Studying reptile embryos is crucial for understanding evolutionary developmental biology.
• Turtle embryos present unique challenges due to size, breeding, and gestation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide robust protocols for reptile embryo research.
• To enable advanced studies in comparative and evolutionary developmental biology.
• To adapt existing methods for reptilian species.

Main Methods:

• Ex ovo culture techniques for turtle embryos.
• Electroporation and in situ hybridization protocols.
• Microcomputed tomography preparation methods.

Main Results:

• Successfully adapted and optimized protocols for turtle embryos.
• Demonstrated applicability to ex ovo culture, electroporation, and imaging.
• Provided notes for alligator embryo applications.

Conclusions:

• The developed protocols are valuable resources for reptile developmental biology.
• These methods can likely be applied to other reptilian species.
• Facilitates future research in reptilian evolutionary developmental biology.