Drosophila flies are little fruit flies that love to land on sweet fruits and lay their eggs on them. Their cellular and molecular detail is beyond expected and have very similar inheritance patterns to humans. Their features and characteristics are far from simple, and even though they are very small fruit flies, they are the perfect experiment subjects for Mendelian and non-Mendelian genetic studies. This is because they are easily cultured in the lab, have a short generation time, and can produce many offspring. Other attributes to experimenting with D. Melanogaster is that the species is sexually dimorphic making it easy to differentiate between the two sexes (Demerec & Kaufman/1996). In order to determine their inheritance of different traits and different forms of each trait, in a stock of Drosophila with an unknown genetic makeup, controlled matings are made in a research lab. By doing these controlled matings, it can be determined which traits are dominant, recessive, X-linked, or autosomal. Also, it can be determined if the Inheritance patterns are Mendelian or None-Mendelian (Marshall P/2010).
When using Drosophila flies as experimental subjects in genetics, it is necessary to start the experiment by first understanding the intricate and fast paced life cycle of Drosophila. The life cycle includes 4 stages that conclude in about 13 days, possibly more or less days depending on the culture temperatures. For example, the egg-larval stage can be shortened with a temperature of 25o C instead of 20oC and all through the life cycles the temperature should be not be below 20oC or above 25oC (Demerec & Kaufmann Pg. 3). It all starts with a male courting a female after which the male inseminates the female with his sperm. T...
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...if they are sex linked or not. Studies like these can help scientists unlock the mechanism behind how Mendelian and non-Mendelian genetic works.
Works Cited
Brooker, Robert J. Genetics: Analysis & Principles. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print.
Carlson A E. Mendel’s legacy : the origin of classical genetics. Cold Spring Harbor (NY): Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; 2004. 332 p.
Demerec & Kaufman. Drosophila Guide Tenth Edition. Washington D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington.; 1996. 46 p.
Greenspan R J. Fly pushing : the theory and practice of Drosophila genetics. Plainview (NY): Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; 1997. 155 p.
Kohler R E. Lords of the fly : Drosophila genetics and the experimental life. Chicago (IL): University of Chicago Press; 1994. 321 p.
Marshall P. 2010. LSC348 Laboratory Manual. Arizona State University.
Drosophila melanogaster is a model species used commonly for research in the areas of genetics and phylogeny (Kohn and Wittkopp, 2007). Drosophila is a model species due to the abundance of offspring, short generation times, and the ease of identifying wild type vs ebony phenotypes (University of South Florida, 2017, Biodiversity Lab Manual). This experiment is being performed in order to evaluate whether or not a fly culture after 3 generations will conform to the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium equation. This equation is being used as a null hypothesis and will most likely not be achieved due to the relatively small population of flies being used in the experiment as well as other factors such as genetic drift (Dansereau, 2014). The experiment will take place over seven weeks in which the procedure will alternate between scoring the
The idea of the project was to experiment breeding Drosophila Melanogaster (fruit fly) to figure out if certain genes of that species were sex linked or not (autosomal). A mono-hybrid cross and di-hybrid cross was performed. For the mono-hybrid cross, white eyed female and red eyed male were placed in one vial for them to reproduce. For the di-hybrid cross, red eyed and normal winged flies and sepia eyed and vestigial winged flies were placed in their vial to reproduce. In the mono-hybrid cross the results expected were within a 1:1:1:1 ratio. Expected results similar to the expected desired null hypothesis proposed with what the F1 parental generation breeds. The potential results would have had to have been within the ratios of 9:3:3:1. The results were clear and allowed the null hypothesis to be correct. The white eyed gene in the fruit flies is sex linked. Sepia eyes and vestigial wings are not sex linked and are examples of independent assortment.
Studying fruit fly mating behavior is very important because their generation length is so short and reproduction happens rapidly. In science, these fruit flies can be used to study genes and mutations relatively quickly because of the limited life span. Knowing mating behaviors can help scientists better understand their results and improve their experiment designs to reduce
This would produce 100% of the dominant phenotype in females with 50% carrying the recessive trait.
When trying to understand genetics Mendel 's laws are a very big part of it. Mendel 's two laws help us understand and analyze genetic crossings. In our experiment we used drosophila melanogaster flies, a common fruit fly. This was perfect to understand and visualize how the laws take effect. Mendel stated that during the process of genetic crossing; two alleles are formed which then separated to form gametes, which would appear in fertilization. In our experiment we accomplish a cross that determined different eye and body colors. By using the Chi-Square test, we were able to test our results. Our groups hypothesis stated the number of flies from the F2 generation would accommodate Mendelian Genetic Ratio of 9:3:3:1. Our Chi-Square test results
The major topic of this experiment was to examine two different crosses between Drosophila fruit flies and to determine how many flies of each phenotype were produced. Phenotype refers to an individual’s appearance, where as genotype refers to an individual’s genes. The basic law of genetics that was examined in this lab was formulated by a man often times called the “father of genetics,” Gregor Mendel. He determined that individuals have two alternate forms of a gene, referred to as two alleles. An individual can me homozygous dominant (two dominant alleles, AA), homozygous recessive, (two recessive alleles, aa), or heterozygous (one dominant and one recessive allele, Aa). There were tow particular crosses that took place in this experiment. The first cross-performed was Ebony Bodies versus Vestigle Wings, where Long wings are dominant over short wings and normal bodies are dominant over black bodies. The other cross that was performed was White versus Wild where red eyes in fruit flies are dominant over white eyes.
17. Fruit flies normally have eight chromosomes. The diagram below shows the result of meiosis in three fruit flies to produce gametes with the number of chromosomes indicated. The male then mates with both female A and female B to produce three zygotes (1, 2, and 3).
Gregor Mendel was born into a German family, as a young man Mendel worked as a gardener and studied beekeeping. In his later life Mendel gained his fame as the founder of the modern science of genetics. The research that was his claim to fame was his pea plant experiment. Mendel looked at seven different characteristics of the pea plants. For example with seed colors when he bred a yellow pea and green pea together their offspring plant was always yellow. Though, in the next generation of plants, the green peas reemerged at a 1:3 ratio. To explain what he had discovered, Mendel put together the terms “recessive” and “dominant” in reference to specific traits. Such as, in the previous example the green peas were recessive and the yellow peas
For the second experiment, the reproduction of fruit fly was manipulated by placing different levels of ethanol into the test tubes in which adult males and females were inserted. First, 2 adult males and 3 adult females were placed inside test tubes for two weeks. These test tubes contained different levels of ethanol in order to determine how many adult flies would hatch depending on the concentration of ethanol in the environment. There were a total of ten groups containing different amounts of ethanol. The five groups of two contained 0%, 1%, 2%, 4%, or 8% ethanol. After the two weeks, hatched adult flies were anesthetized with Fly Nap in order to remove them from the test tube to calculate how many were produced in the different levels of ethanol. They were then counted to determine which level of ethanol concentration best allowed the fruit fly to hatch. After the counting of the flies the adult flies were disposed of into a jar of
Multiple allele is when more that one allele is being crossed and all of the traits are being crossed together. Sex linked inheritance is when the gene for a certain trait is carried on either the X or Y chromosomes for the parent. The goal of this lab is to better understand genetics. The guiding question is, Which model of inheritance best explains how a specific trait is inherited in fruit flies? In first population, the model of inheritance was dominant-recessive and the wild body type is dominant and the aristapedia body type is recessive.In the second population, the model of inheritance is incomplete dominance because the mellow trait crossed with the hyper trait combines to make the spontaneous trait. In the third population, the model of inheritance was sex linked recessive to the yellow colored trait on the X chromosome. In the fourth population, the model of inheritance was a multiple allele autosomal cross for the different traits.
Drosophila melanogaster are great model organisms for the study of genetics. This is because there are approximately 16,000 genes observed in fruit flies and we observe much homology in the genomes of fruit flies and humans. For example, “75% of know human disease genes have a recognizable match in the genome of fruit flies” (Xeniya Rudolf, Lecture 8, slide 3).
In Drosophila, there are eight hox genes, which are generally divided up into two complexes, the antennapedia and bithorax. The antennapedia complex contains genes responsible for coding for the head and thorax regions of the body and begins at the 3’ end of the DNA sequence making up the homeotic gene cluster. On the other hand, the bithorax complex codes for the abdominal region of the body and is located at the 5’ end of the DNA sequence. While the pair-rule and segment polarity genes are the ones that establish the segments along the body of the fly embryo, it is the homeotic genes that then assist in determining the identities of each specific segment. This ultimately leads to a distinct anterior-posterior polarity along the ...
After Mendel’s death, his work was rediscovered by Carl Correns, Hugo de Vries, and Erich von Tschermak-Seysenegg. Although Mendel’s work was not recognized until the 1900s, he is still remembered and regarded as the father of modern genetics. Mendel’s genetic research with peas helped geneticists discover and develop new theories for Mendel’s unfinished work; therefore, the simple Mendelian genetics distinguished the environmental impact on phenotype, endured as the foundation of human genetics, and analyzed results for family histories. Mendel, along with his experiments and genetic laws, will always be credited as the man whose work prospered to new discipline within Biology and
Daly and Wilson also refer to the research done by a British geneticist named A.J. Bateman to strengthen their arguments for the idea of status competition. Bateman's research focused on lab experiments done on Drosophila or fruit flies. The experiments consisted of taking fruit flies with "distinct genetic markers" and placing them in jars. It was made sure that each jar contained an equal number o...
In this experiment, Mendelain Models are observed. The purpose of the experiment is to understand how traits are passed from one generation to the other as well as understanding the difference between sex linked and autosomal genes. One particular trait that is observed in this experiment is when a fly is lacking wings, also known as an apterous mutation. In this experiment, we will determine whether this mutation is carried on an autosomal chromosome or on a sex chromosome. The data for this experiment will be determined statistically with the aid of a chi-square. If the trait is autosomal, then it will be able to be passed to the next generation on an autosomal chromosome, meaning that there should be an equal amount of male and