Fruit Fly Lab Report

In this experiment Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) were used. To begin with the lab, four virgin females with mutant genotype for yellow body color, crossveinless, and forked bodies were mated with genotype (y cv v f / y cv v f). Then these females were crossed with six males with all wild-type genotypes, which can be abbreviated as (+ + + / Y). During the first week of experiment the flies were anesthetized and viewed under dissecting microscope. Then the flies with above characteristics were chosen. Then a F1 cross, 4 females and 6 males was made. During third week, the flies from F1 cross were anesthetized in the bottle for scoring purposes. Then at least 100 flies were scored using a chart in lab manual. One member scored flies and one recorded the flies. The female flies need to be virgins so

The F1 generation do not need to be virgins because they should all have the same genotype, based off their parents who were carefully selected. The parent generation will be placed in clear tubes a couple of inches long, one side is closed with food on the bottom, while the opposite end will be closed using cotton. It will take approximately two to three weeks for the parent generation to die, or be cleared out of the tubes. They should be kept in a constant-temperature incubator to ensure the best results. Once the two weeks are over, you should have your F1 generation in the tube ready to be counted. The flies will need to be anesthetized before they are removed from the vial for counting. Trimethylamine, commonly called FlyNap, will be used to anesthetize the flies. The vials that the flies are kept in will have a small piece of cotton on top. A small stick with fibers on the end will be dipped into the bottle of FlyNap, and then carefully pushed into the vial alongside the cotton. Waiting approximately five minutes, or more, should be enough time for the flies to be properly