Deletion mapping

In genetics and especially genetic engineering, deletion mapping is a technique used to ascertain the location of mutation sites within a gene.

The principle of deletion mapping involves crossing a strain which has a point mutation in a gene, with multiple strains who each carry a deletion in a different region of the same gene. Wherever recombination occurs between the two strains to produce a wild-type (+) gene (regardless of frequency), the point mutation cannot lie within the region of the deletion. If recombination cannot produce any wild-type genes, then it is reasonable to conclude that the point mutation and deletion are found within the same stretch of DNA.