Reverse genetics

In classic genetics, the traditional approach was to find a gene product and then try to identify the gene itself. In molecular genetics, the reverse has been done by identifying genes purely on the basis of their position in the genome with no knowledge whatsoever of the gene product. This revolutionary approach is reverse genetics. Also called positional cloning.

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reverse genetics n pl but sing in constr genetics that is concerned with genetic material whose nucleotide sequence is known and that analyzes its contribution to the phenotype of the organism by varying the nucleotide sequence and observing the results of such variation in the living organism, in living cells, or in vitro on macromolecules

reverse-genetic adj

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a branch of molecular genetics that proceeds in the opposite direction from traditional molecular genetics (sometimes in contrast called forward genetics); instead of proceeding from a phenotype of interest to identification of the gene or genes responsible, it begins with alteration of a specific gene and examines the resulting phenotypic effects.