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Summary

©2000 written by Gary Roberts, edited by Timothy Paustian, University of Wisconins-Madison

SUMMARY

This text has attempted to point out both the strengths and weaknesses of genetic analyses. To summarize, the strengths of genetics are that

1. It lets you search for, and demand, rare events;

2. It can indicate, when a number of mutations in a given region are examined, the range of phenotypes and therefore the range of biochemical interactions that the gene product is involved in;

3. It is done in vivo, in distinction to the in vitro analysis of most biochemical approaches.

The weaknesses of genetics are that

1. The mutations necessarily perturb the system;

2. It is necessarily indirect (for example, complementation groups are not synonymous with genes);

3. It can take a significant number of time to "set up" the system for proper genetic analysis;

4. Without biochemical characterization of the analyzed mutants, a genetic analysis lacks "functional interpretibility".

Thank you, I hope you found it useful, and good night everybody.

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