Fruit Fly Lab Report

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Introduction The purpose of this experiment was to analytically determine linkage of eye color mutations present in Drosophila melanogaster (D. melanogaster) based upon phenotypes expressed in a controlled F2 generation, which resulted from a known parental cross. The fruit fly acts as an important model organism in the study of genetics, including studies surrounding human disease. D. melanogaster has the ability to undergo a vast array of different mutations, which can then be studied, induced, and observed by scientists in detail. Furthermore, the short life cycle of D. melanogaster makes the organism ideal for such research in that a viable population can be produced in a matter of days (Herman 2014). Typically, the life cycle of the fruit…show more content…
Using the same methods of anesthesia as previously mentioned, six males and six females were counted separately from the provided vials and inserted into the new vial, followed by placement of the foam cap. Excess flies were returned to their original vials, and used no further for the duration of the experiment. The vial was labeled parental cross, and the flies were then allowed to mate for a duration of one week. In the second week, parental flies were cleared from the vials and disposed of into a water-based fly morgue in order to effectively separate the F1 generation from the…show more content…
The female Chi-square analysis of the scarlet mutation in female offspring was the only data resulting in a failed rejection, thereby following the expected 9:3:3:1 inheritance pattern. Furthermore, all four possible phenotypes were seen in both sexes of the F2 progeny. The vermilion mutation maps to the first chromosome, where it is linked to the “X” allele in both male and female progeny. As a result, no white eyes are expected to be seen in female F2 progeny, regardless of their wing morphology. The cinnabar mutation maps to chromosome two, which has known linkage to the vestigial alleles in D. melanogaster. As a result of such linkage, not male nor female offspring were expected to present the white eyed vestigial phenotype, as white eyed individuals are already “double mutants” (Herman 2014). Both of these factors support the claim that the genotype of the original unknown males was v+/y; vg+cn+bw/ vg+cn+bw; st/st regardless of the fact that Chi-square analyses failed to accept the 9:3:3:1 ratio in comparing the male F2 generation to the scarlet mutation phenotypic expectations. Thereby, based upon these results, the parental cross occurred between six double mutant scarlet males with wild-type wings, v+/y; vg+cn+bw/ vg+cn+bw; st/st, and six brown eyed females with vestigial wings, v+/v+;

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