The use of forward genetics to study development has given us profound insights into how genes act to shape the body plan of a multicellular organism as it develops from a fertilized egg. So far, however, this approach has only been extremely successful with invertebrate organisms, particularly Drosophila. The goal of the proposed research is to develop and apply genetic techniques to identify genes that play critical roles in the early development of a vertebrate animal, the zebrafish, Brachydanio rerio. Dr. Hopkins plans to mutagenize fish and examine their progeny for developmentally interesting early mutants. She will try to develop techniques for mutagenesis by DNA insertion so that mutated genes can be cloned easily, however, she will also work towards, and will probably begin screens, using gamma ray or chemical mutagenesis. The advantages of the zebrafish for genetic analysis were recognized by Streisinger some years ago, but only recently has the potential of the zebrafish for the genetic study of early development begun to be widely recognized.
