'''Synthetic Genetic Array analysis (SGA)''' is a [[high-throughput]] technique for exploring [[synthetic lethality|synthetic lethal]] and synthetic sick [[genetic interactions]] ([[Synthetic lethality|SSL]]). SGA allows for the systematic construction of double mutants using a combination of [[Recombinant DNA|recombinant genetic techniques]], mating and selection steps. Using SGA methodology a query gene deletion mutant can be crossed to an entire genome deletion set to identify any [[synthetic lethality|SSL]] interactions, yielding muchfunctional information onof the wayquery gene and the genes it interacts with. A large-scale application of SGA in which ~130 query genegenes were crossed to the set of ~5000 viable deletion mutants in yeast revealed a genetic network containing ~1000 genes and ~4000 SSL interactions <ref> A. H. Tong et al., Global Mapping of the Yeast Genetic Interaction Network, Science 303, 808 (2004) </ref>. Genes with similar function tend to interact with one another and genes with similar patterns of genetic interactions often encode products that tend to work in the same pathway isor regulatedcomplex. Synthetic Genetic Array analysis was initially developed using the model organism ''[[S.cerevisiae]]''. Methodology has since been developed to allow SGA analysis in ''[[Schizosaccharomyces pombe|S.pombe]]'' <ref>Roguev, A., Wiren, M., Weissman, J. S. & Krogan, N. J. High-throughput genetic interaction mapping in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Nat Methods 4, 861-866 (2007) </ref> <ref> S. J. Dixon et al., Significant conservation of synthetic lethal genetic interaction networks between distantly related eukaryotes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 105:16653-8. (2008)</ref> and ''E.coli'' <ref> Typas, A. et al. High-throughput, quantitative analyses of genetic interactions in E. coli. Nat Methods (2008). </ref>, <ref>Butland, G. et al. eSGA: E. coli synthetic genetic array analysis. Nat Methods (2008) </ref>.
