Reverse genetics in zebrafish

The zebrafish has become a popular model system for the study of vertebrate developmental biology because of its numerous strengths as a molecular gen etic and embryological system. To determine the requirement for specific ge nes during embryogenesis, it is necessary to generate organisms carrying lo ss-of-function mutations. This can be accomplished in zebrafish through a r everse genetic approach. This review discusses the current techniques for g enerating mutations in known genes in zebrafish. These techniques include t he generation of chromosomal deletions and the subsequent identification of complementation groups within deletions through non-complementation assays . In addition, this review will discuss methods currently being evaluated t hat may improve the methods for finding mutations in a known sequence, incl uding screening for randomly induced small deletions within genes and scree ning for randomly induced point mutations within specific genes.