Investigation

Fruit Fly Navy Group's Investigation

fruitflynavy1, fruitflynavy2, and fruitflynavy3

Introduction

This experiment is to study and test the life cycles of different Drosophila, or the common fruit fly. We had to cross-breed. For our fruit fly experiment, we crossed wild type with mutant white eye.


Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

© 2006 fiveblue2

Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

© 2006

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Diptera

Family: Drosophilidea

Phenotypes

Red Eyes-wild type(+), Recessive sex-linked white eye(w) & vestigial(vg) 

White Eye (w) x Wild Type (+)

  +
+
w w+ w+
w w+ w+

We predicted 100% heterozygous wild eye.

Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

© 2006

Observation Log

Sexing Flies

First you have to take the adult fruit flies out of the vial that they live in (the one with larvae) and you put them into a empty vial and you nap them with the fly nap and try not to get it on the sides, for the flies tend to land on the sides and then they will die. You leave the fly nap in there for about 2 minutes and the good thing is that the flynap safely anesthetizes the flies. Then after they have fallen a sleep you put them on the the sexing card (flash card), you put them in the middle and you turn the fly on its back one at a time it will give you a better view and help you to make better decision. The males have a black dot that points up near the anal plate and a very narrow abdomen. Female fruit flies have a very wide abdomen and they have a dot but not as dark. The sexing card should have a female side and a male side if you really can not tell like they have the black dot that points up and a wide abdomen then just put that one at the top in the middle so that you won't use it in your cross.  It is better to be safe then sorry and never take someone else's word on sexing the flies unless it's the teacher's.

F1 predictions

In our F1 predictions we had white eye females x wild type males in vial 1. In vial 2 we had wild type female s x white eye males.

Hypothesis 1

If the mutation is autosomal dominant then the phenotype % will be all white eyes and the genotype % will be all heterozygous.

Hypothesis 2

If the mutation is autosomal Recessive then the phenotype % will be all wild type, and the genotype % will be all heterozygous.

   W  W
 +  W+  W+
 W+ W+

Hypothesis 3

If the mutation is sex-linked and dominant the phenotype is 50% white eyes and 50% wild type, the genotype will be 50% homozygous and 50% heterozygous.

   Xw   Xw
X+
 XwX+  XwX+
 Y XwY
 XwY

Hypothesis 4

If the mutation is sex-linked and recessive then the phenotype % will be 100% wild and the genotype % will be 50% heterozygous and 50% homozygous.

   X+  X+
Xw   XwX+  X+Xw
 Y X+Y
X+Y

Fly Counts

We had at least over 100% error in the F2 Outcomes because the result was completely opposite from what we expected.

 Date F2 counted
 Female Wild
 Male Wild
 Female White Eye
Male White Eye 
 April 23, 06
 1  0  0
 over all total from vial1
total female total male   total female
 total male
2  1  0 0  1
         
 Date F2 counted
  Female Wild  Male Wild   Female White Eye  Male White Eye
 april 21,06
4
0
april 24,06  13 
 over all total from vial1  total female  total male
 total female  total male
 28  17 11 

Conclusion

This experiment taught us a lot in general about the Drosophila. We've mastered breeding and sexing the fruit flies. We now have a better understanding of genetic traits, mutations, and the study of genetics as a whole. If we were to redo this experiment, we would be more diligent with keeping track of the processes and be more careful with the set-up, seeing as many of our flies didn't survive the test.


Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

Drosophila melanogaster. © 2006

About This Page

Author: fruitflynavy1, fruitflynavy2, and fruitflynavy3
Classroom Project: fruitflynavy
city high school
Tucson, AZ USA

License: Tree of Life & Partners uses only - Version 1.0

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to , city high school

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