DEVELOPMENTAL AND MOLECULAR-GENETICS IN FISH

Fish are the oldest vertebrates and the most divergent group, and ther efore studies on developmental and molecular genetics in fish can prov ide a framework and reference for other vertebrates. The zebrafish emb ryo combines the advantages of experimental embryology and cell fate c ommitment as in amphibians with the genetic analysis of development as in mammalian systems. The zebrafish has very rapidly become a center of attention because of the thousands of induced developmental mutants that are currently in the process of isolation, characterization, map ping, and cloning. Together with more traditional approaches, like chr omosomal and sex manipulation, the use of transgenic fish, and the att empts to produce targeted mutants in pluripotential fish embryonic ste m cells, the field of molecular genetics of the fish embryo is now bec oming the focus of studies on vertebrate development.