When learning about genetics it is easier for us to simply perform experiments. Especially with organisms that can be easily manipulated. The overall purpose of this lab was for us to determine the inheritance of the traits found in various groups of flies. We looked at the genetic variation for wing type and eye color in the original groups.
In order for us to understand how genetics work we need to take a look at the Central Dogma. The Central Dogma explains the flow of genetic material. It explains how it goes from the DNA to the RNA and then how it undergoes the process for it to be turned into a functional product. Where the final product is a well-functioning protein.
Our understanding of how inherited traits are passed down from generation to generation came from various principles that were proposed by Gregor Mendel back in 1866. Mendel performed various experiments using pea plants. However, his principles apply to traits in both plants and animals. Mendel came up with three principles to explain his mode of inheritance. His three
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The second principle explains how during reproduction he inherited factors or alleles determine traits that are separated into reproductive cells by a process called meiosis and how they randomly reunite during fertilization. Then the last principle explains how genes are located on different chromosomes will be inherited independently of each other.
For this particular experiment, we chose to look at Drosophila or fruit flies. Now when looking at their life cycle we learned that they go through four distinct stages. The four stages are the egg, larva, pupa and adult. Their life cycle is fairly short because they spent eight days in their egg and the larval stage combined. Then their pupal stage is only six days long but overall as adults they can live up to eight weeks under the right