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Genetic Screens

Genetic Screens

Genetic screens are tools used to identify genes and mutations responsible for phenotypes of interest. Genetic screens help identify individuals or a group of people at risk of developing genetic diseases and help them with early intervention, targeted therapy, and reproductive options.
Forward genetic screens
Forward or “classical” genetic screens involve creating random mutations in an organism’s DNA using radiation, mutagens, or insertion of additional bases, which result in visible changes...

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Genetic Profiling and Genome-Scale Dropout Screening to Identify Therapeutic Targets in Mouse Models of Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor

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Published on: August 25, 2023

Functional screening revisited in the postgenomic era.

Shiro Tochitani¹, Yoshihide Hayashizaki

¹RNA Resource Exploration Laboratory, Functional RNA Research Program, Frontier Research System, RIKEN, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. st0111@gsc.riken.jp

Molecular Biosystems

|February 20, 2007

Summary

Functional screening identifies gene functions, evolving from cDNA libraries to gene-oriented and loss-of-function approaches. This method bridges genes and biological phenomena for systems-level understanding.

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Area of Science:

Molecular Biology
Genomics
Systems Biology

Background:

Functional screening historically relied on complementary DNA (cDNA) libraries.
Established screening methods have been applied across diverse biological fields, including cancer, development, and neuroscience.

Purpose of the Study:

To highlight the evolution of functional screening methodologies.
To emphasize the role of gene-based screening in the postgenomic era.
To underscore the importance of functional screening for systems-level biological understanding.

Main Methods:

Transition from cDNA library-based screening to gene-oriented screening using public sequence databases and full-length cDNA resources.
Incorporation of RNA interference (RNAi) techniques for effective loss-of-function screening.

Main Results:

Gene-based functional screening enables direct investigation of gene function.
Loss-of-function screening provides new avenues for biological discovery.
Integration of 'omic' datasets with functional screening data generates critical biological questions.

Conclusions:

Functional screening is pivotal for uncovering gene functions and understanding biological phenomena.
Modern functional screening approaches facilitate a systems-level comprehension of living organisms.
The importance of functional screening in molecular biology is increasing with the move towards integrated biological understanding.