Zebrafish as an Experimental Organism

Abstract Over the last 20 years, the popularity of the zebrafish model has grown more rapidly than any other vertebrate model, and by now the zebrafish is used for virtually all disciplines of biological and medical research. New sophisticated advances in gene editing, transgenesis, 3D‐imaging and behavioural assay design have been established successfully and complemented the ‘tool box’ to make the zebrafish one of the most powerful vertebrate model organisms. There is now information available on expression of over 12 000 genes and about 1000 mutant phenotypes. The latest high‐quality sequence assembly of the zebrafish genome allows in‐depth comparative genomic analysis which will further enhance the use of zebrafish as a model for human diseases. Together with the previously established techniques such as forward genetics, cell‐transplantation, ‐ablation and ‐extraction, which can now be used for new generation sequencing analysis with temporal‐spatial precision, the zebrafish provides an outstanding in vivo vertebrate model to study development and human disease. Key Concepts The advantages of the zebrafish model include rapid development, short generation time, large number of offspring and transparency of the embryos The zebrafish has become an excellent genetic model organism, amenable to forward genetic screens, targeted mutagenesis and efficient transgenesis Using the zebrafish as a research model for developmental biology, regeneration, chemical screens and disease will expand our knowledge in basic and clinical research