LECTURE 10 & 11 (developmental genetics) Flashcards
What’s forward genetics?
pheny-gene
you have a phenotype and you want to study what’s the gene that causes that specific phenotype
What’s reverse genetics?
gene-pheny
you start with a given gene and see what’s the phenotype that you might get if you disrupt the gene.
How can we get new phenotypes?
you can use mutagens.
What was the 1st mutagen that was ever used?
nitrogen mustard (alkylating agent) used in chemotherapy
What are induced mutations?
mutations caused due to a mutagen that you insert to make some changes in the phenotype
What are natural variants?
mutations that are selected by natural selection (restrictsd to alleles that exist already in a pop)
how can developmental mutants be found? (6 steps)
- mutagenize an org,
- select a mutant,
- classify mutation,
- map mutation,
- validate gene,
- study mechanism of action
What’s EMS?
ethylmethanosulphate (BASE MODIFIER) adds ethyl group to O-6 position of guanine and then it pairs with thymine, it can cause loads of different mutations
Why is developmental genetics complicated to study?
because different animals have different developmental mechanisms and if we link it with genetics it’s even more complicated
Which experiment in developmental genetics got a nobel price?
isolation of 15 embryonic lethal mutations of C.elegans (forward genetics screens to identify mutants)
Appart from drosophila, which other is good model organism for developmental genetics?
C.elegans because it has been found morphological mutations; different body movements for different mutations
how can embryonic phenotypes be found in drosophila?
females were crossed with male mutants for several rounds until the mutation becomes homozygotic then have a look at the seq of those mutants
How can embryonic phenotypes be screened for lethal mutations?
you need to use balance chromosomes otherwise they don’t survive and you have no organisms to look at because lethal mutants all die.
why is the finding of embryonic phenotypes easier with hermaphrodites?
because in the 1st generation will be heterozygous for the mutation of interest and will segregate in 1/4 to next generation–> we’re certain about it
Once mutagenesis has been done in the organism, how do we get from the phenotype to the mutated gene?
- see if mutant breeds true
- get rid of unwanted mutations
- identify type of mutation
- complementation test
- modifier screens
- mapping
types of mutations when mutagenize an organism
- loss of function:
null: complete loss of function
hypomorph: output decreases
haploinssuficient: 1/2 output workd - gain of function:
hypermorphic: loads of output
neomorphic: change of function
antimorphic: one output affects another output
How can we determine the null phenotype gene?
null phenotype is a complete loss of function, to tell what happens when the gene of interest isn’t there we can use genetic analysis normally the null phenotype was one that was previously highly expressed so we can investigate the previous ones.
What is the complementation test for?
can be used to know whether two alleles correspond to the same gene
What does trans configuration tells?
that there’s complementation
What’s are the exceptions of the complementation test?
intragenic complementation and extragenic non-complementation.
What’s intragenic complementation?
it’s when two mutations in the same gene complement
what’s extragenic non-complementation?
when two mutations in two different genes do not complement (trans)
Why would we using mapping ?
it’s in order to map a mutation produced by a mutagen e.g EMS
How do we carry mapping for a mutation?
we need to cross the mutant (we performed mutagenesis to it) with the wild type. You get heterozygous progeny and the mate F1 with F1 and due to recombination we get 3/4 WT 1/4 mutants. now we isolate this mutant, perform DNA extraction and do PCR. We need to do a BSA by adding a marker.
What is bulked sergeant analysis?
Bulked segregant analysis (BSA) is a technique used to identify genetic markers associated with a mutant phenotype.