Flynb Biology Lab Essay

In order to successfully achieve the intended goal of the experiment, the lab group will need to take the steps necessary to ensure that the correct crosses occur and the proper measures are taken to safeguard against any errors in the data. Three test crosses were carried out over an interlude of four weeks. The objective for the first week of the experiment was to establish our Parental (P) cross, for this we had to gather the already made fly-houses with the pre-determined wild types or mutants. Using the “FlyNap” solution, we anesthetized both the wild type virgin females and the various mutated male strains. While the flies were rendered unconscious, our lab group counted and located five to ten males and females in three separate fly-houses.

At this point in the experiment, the F1 generation is inside the same fly-house as the P generation but in the form of larva consuming the potato and yeast medium in the bottom of the vial as well as pupa visibly adhered to the upper portion of the vial. Using the FlyNap solution just as the previous week, we had to incapacitate the P generation inside the vial. With the F1 generation established, the P generation is no longer necessary to the experiment and was properly disposed of and the vial containing the F1 generation was placed back into the incubator. This step was completed for each of the three test-cross vials. Placing the F1 generation back into the incubator allows the larva to pupate, ultimately metamorphosing into an adult fruit fly. With the F1 generation now adults, we had to use the FlyNap solution once again to immobilize the flies. Once the flies are knocked out we had to separate the males from the females, record the phenotypes of both sexes and record how many individual Drosophila there were in the F1 generation. After recording all the data for the three crosses, we had to count and male and female and place them into a new fly-house with the same potato and yeast medium as before.