Figure 1.  Illustration of the major differences between forward and reverse genetics. The blue oospore symbolizes an observable phenotype that may have been produced via any one of a number of pathways (e.g., mutation, recombination, etc.). This is the starting point for A, forward genetics where the investigator proceeds from the phenotype to characterize the underlying genetic difference. B, illustrates reverse genetics where the sequence for a gene is known but the gene's function is unknown and the investigator disrupts the gene and investigates the resulting phenotype BACK