The advent of recombinant DNA technology, development of infectious cDNA clones of RNA viruses, and reverse genetic technologies have revolutionized how viruses are studied.
Transposon-based forward and reverse genetic technologies will contribute greatly to ongoing efforts to study mosquito functional genomics.
Characterization of these proteins using comparable reverse genetic technologies in rodent models of malaria and in P. falciparum have revealed that these proteins have similar functions in both human and rodent malaria [25], [26], [47] and van Dijk unpublished observations).
The availability of relatively efficient reverse genetic technologies for P. berghei and the fact that these can be combined with analyses on parasites throughout their complete life cycle, both in vitro and in vivo, have made P. berghei the most frequently used model for gene function analysis [ 20- 22].
Zebrafish are also amenable to reverse genetic studies.
Every one of these genes can be tested for function in a few model species (by forward genetic, reverse genetic and transgenic technologies), so the orthologues, paralogues and "new" genes can also be compared and "uncovered" in a conductive genetic background or backgrounds.
A reverse genetic screen using Sequenom MassARRAY technology was also conducted on a subset of the soybean FN-irradiated mutant population.
Reverse-genetic (RG) technology has also been applied to improve virus yield by inserting specific protease cleavage sites or engineering temperature-sensitive growth mutants.
Therefore, the Sequenom MassARRAY technology served as a reverse genetic screen for deletions and duplications in 760 M2 plants at large homeologous regions located between chromosomes 8 and 15 and 3 and 19, respectively.
Advances in insect cell lines, genome sequencing, reverse genetic systems and others not yet developed technologies are needed to find and characterize the counterpart receptors in vectors and to design strategies to interfere with viral transmission.
