Question

You clone a gene in starfish which in other, similar embryos appears to be necessary (i.e. animals completely lacking it are not viable) only before midblastula transition.

What experiment could you do to show that this gene product is present in very early starfish embryos? Describe any controls that would be important.

If you had a starfish that were heterozygous for this mutation and you fertilized oocytes from a +/- female with sperm from a +/- male, what would you expect to see if you followed development of the resulting zygotes over several days (long enough for WT zygotes to become swimming pluteus larva) and why?

Answer 1

To find out the presence of the particular gene product,we can do micro array assays for RNA and western blotting for the protein. Also, gene sequencing can be done.

50% of the zygotes would survive and will lead a healthy life.