Chapter 18, Problem 11P

The goal of the Knockout Mouse Project is to generate a set of ES cell lines, each with a knockout mutation in a single gene, that collectively contains a mutation in every gene in the mouse genome.

a.	Do you think that it will be possible, for every gene, to generate a heterozygous knockout ES cell line? Explain.
b.	Do you think that for every heterozygous knockout ES cell line, it will be possible to generate a heterozygous knockout mouse? Explain.
c.	In fact, investigators failed in their attempts to generate ES cell knockouts for the Fam gene described in Problem 5. How could these researchers use ES cell technology to determine whether Fam is required for eye development in the mouse? Diagram a construct that the researchers could introduce into ES cells to explore this issue.
d.	Describe various outcomes that might be obtained from the experiment in part (c) and what you could conclude in each case.