Table 1. Overview of reverse genetics approaches in common laboratory species.

The prevalence of every approach in the indicated model species is marked by - (no published report) to +++ (Genome-wide inactivations reported). See main text for references.

	Yeast	A.thaliana	C. elegans	Fruit fly	Zebrafish	Xenopus	Mouse
Insertion mutagenesis	−	+++ Genome-wide collection of T-DNA mutants	+++ Genome-wide collection of Mos1 mutants in progress	+++ Genome-wide collection of P element and piggyBac mutants	+ Proofs-of-principle for retrovirus and transposon-mediated mutagenesis	+/−	+++ Genome-wide collection of gene-trap ES cells in progress
Random chemical mutation and screening	− (used in forward, not reverse genetics)	+++ Genome-wide collection of TILLING mutants, service	+ Middle-scale collection of TILLING mutants	++ Service for the research community	++ Service for the research community	+/− Proof-of-principle	−
Homologous recombination	+++ Genome-wide collection of KO and KI mutants	−	+/− Few examples	+ Several examples, but no systematic approach	−	−	+++ Genome-wide collection of cKO ES cells in progress
Inserted element mediated gene engineering	−	−	++ MosTIC, MosSCI, MosDEL	+ Transposon-controlled deletions	−	−	−
RNAi	−	++	+++ Genome-wide “feeding library”	+++ Genome-wide UAS-driven library	−	−	+/− Few examples
Morpholino	−	−	−	−	++ Middle-scale screening	++ Middle-scale screening