Reverse Genetics
While forward genetic screens are productive, a more straightforward approach is to simply determine the phenotype that results from mutating a given gene. This is called reverse genetics. In some organisms, such as yeast and mice, it is possible to induce the deletion of a particular gene, creating what's known as a gene "knockout" - the laboratory origin of so-called "knockout mice" for further study. In other words this process involves the creation of transgenic organisms that do not express a gene of interest. Alternative methods of reverse genetic research include the random induction of DNA deletions and subsequent selection for deletions in a gene of interest, as well as the application of RNA interference.
Read more about this topic: Molecular Genetics
Famous quotes containing the word reverse:
“During the late war [the American Revolution] I had an infallible rule for deciding what [Great Britain] would do on every occasion. It was, to consider what they ought to do, and to take the reverse of that as what they would assuredly do, and I can say with truth that I was never deceived.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)