Methods for In Vitro Mutagenesis

Several different methodologies for mutagenesis have been developed to introduce mutations at predetermined sites or regions within mammalian genes. These methods of in vitro mutagenesis have had a transforming effect on the understanding of functions of protein, transcription regulatory elements, and noncoding RNAs and are now integral to molecular biology investigations. In this introduction, we summarize the most commonly used experimental approaches for mutagenesis and their major applications.