摘要：

This chapter discusses the analysis of genetic mosaics. In mosaics, some cells of an individual are genotypically mutant and other cells are genotypically wild type. Genetic procedures for generating genetic mosaics, as opposed to methods involving cell or tissue transplants, involve the loss of a wild-type gene from a progenitor cell during development, which then leads to the generation of a mutant clone. The wild type product synthesized in the progenitor cell or its ancestral cells prior to gene loss might persist and be transmitted to descendant cells even though they lack the gene; this is referred to as "perdurance." The effect of perdurance would be to prevent the appearance of or to weaken the expected mutant phenotype. Good candidates for mosaic analysis are genes that affect patterns of cell lineage, cell migration, or neuron process outgrowth; it is often not clear at the outset that these genes will behave cell autonomously. The best cell autonomous genetic marker known for tracking duplication is ncl-1.

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