= Model organism
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A <model organism> is an <organism> used to investigate biological processes through accessible, repeatable experiments. Its value combines <experimental tractability> with a carefully delimited relationship to other <organisms>. For example, a <gene deletion> in <Saccharomyces cerevisiae> can test whether a <gene> is required for growth under specified conditions; adding another <gene> can test <functional complementation>. Such interventions support <causal inference> more directly than merely noticing that a <gene> and a <phenotype> occur together. <Budding Yeast for Budding Geneticists: A Primer on the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Model System by Andrea A. Duina and others>[Duina, Miller and Keeney (2014), introduction and Experimental Toolkit and Related Resources: manipulation of genes and phenotypic effects]{ref}
The striking opportunity is to ask two experimentally separate questions: what does this component do here, and which part of that function survives a change of <species> or conditions? The <yeast cross-species complementation experiment> makes both questions concrete. <Model organism evidence transfer> requires specifying the function being compared; a useful <model organism> need not reproduce every feature of another <organism>.
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