When Nüsslein-Volhard and Wieschaus conducted their genetic screen in Drosophila, they continued to find new genes of interest with increasing numbers of experiments, but the number of new mutations they discovered tailed off after about 2000 chromosomes had been tested.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

After about 2000 chromosomes had been tested, new mutations continued to be discovered but the rate at which new genes were discovered began to decline and eventually it was rare to discover a new gene with the phenotype of interest. This is because the researchers used random mutagenesis in their experiments, so the chances of discovering new mutations in genes that had already been identified by the screen were quite high.

When Nüsslein-Volhard and Wieschaus Conducted Their Genetic Screen in Drosophila