Why Drosophila is selected for experiment of inheritance?

Why Drosophila is selected for experiment of inheritance?

75 per cent of the genes that cause disease in humans are also found in the fruit fly. Drosophila have a short, simple reproduction cycle. Fruit fly are small (3 mm long) but not so small that they can’t be seen without a microscope. This allows scientists to keep millions of them in the laboratory at a time.

What is the recessive trait in Drosophila?

In fruit flies, the gene for body color has two different alleles: the black allele and the brown allele. Moreover, brown body color is the dominant phenotype, and black body color is the recessive phenotype.

What is the importance of using fruit flies in genetics?

Fruit flies have a very simple genetic structure, which makes them ideal for genetic research. It is useful to study mutant fruit flies, as their quick reproduction rate allows scientists to observe the advantages and disadvantages of certain mutations.

How are the inheritance patterns of Drosophila melanogaster determined?

In this experiment, the inheritance patterns of different fly traits found in Drosophila melanogaster were determined though reciprocal crosses of parental flies and their F1 progeny. Six different variations of drosophila melanogaster were distributed to teams in vials containing about 10 adult flies each.

How is a reciprocal cross performed in Drosophila?

A reciprocal cross was performed, mating the wild type male with the mutant female and the wild type female with the mutant male. First, two empty vials were filled about a third of the way up with instant blue drosophila food and 0.5% propionic acid, which was needed to feed the larvae.

Why are red eyes not expressed in Drosophila melanogaster?

When the mutation is present, the red or sepia eyes will not be expressed because they will be masked behind the white mutation. Drosophila melanogaster were used in this procedure because they reproduce very quickly and are easily manageable. All their food and water needs are taken care of by the substance called media in the bottom of the vial.

How to find the inheritance mechanism for a trait?

A way to find the inheritance mechanism for a certain trait is by crossing a male wild type with a female that has the trait, and then doing the reciprocal cross, female wild type with male with the trait (Greenspan, 1997). After performing this, the F1’s can then be used for another reciprocal cross.