Fruit Fly Research Paper

Drosophila melanogaster is a fruit fly, about 3mm in length, and it is the insect that flies around spoiled fruit. A model organism has these traits: short life cycles and rapid development, small average size, big population, and fast reproduction (NCBI). Drosophila melanogaster meet all of the criteria for being a model organism. Also, fruit flies were used because they are very easy to handle and they require minimal resources to survive, as opposed to other organisms that might need more food or more space for survival, and the life cycle for a fruit fly is about 2 weeks, and they share about 60% of DNA with Homo sapiens (NASA). In addition, there are many variations of Drosophila melanogaster such as genotypes and phenotypes. The main …show more content…
The phenotype of the mutant fruit fly was white eyes, and this discovery, sparked an entire field of study based around these little flies. The flies can have white, red, or sepia colored eyes, the bodies can be ebony or grey, and the wings can be long, short, or wingless. Also, some mutations may be beneficial for an organism, while others may be fatal. The possible mutations for fruit flies are white (w) - white eyes, ebony (e) - dark colored body, dumpy (dp) - short wings, bar (B) - red triangle shaped eyes, vestigial (vg) - small wings, apterous (ap) - no wings, and sepia (se) - dark round eyes. Also, a “normal” Drosophila melanogaster is called a wild type and the traits for this type are large and round eyes, wings are longer than the body, and the body is mostly buff and tan colored except the …show more content…
He was interested in experiments and he wanted the answers to his questions about life such as: what are inherited factors, where are they located, and how are inherited factors passed on to the next generation? Morgan attempted to answer his questions by using Drosophila melanogaster, or fruit fly, because it can be bred cheaply and reproduces quickly. After multiple examinations and tests, Morgan and his colleagues discovered the Chromosomal Theory of Inheritance. In addition, for genetic crosses of fruit flies, there are three types of inheritance patterns that are relevant in this lab. The first is monohybrid - one single trait is involved, the second is dihybrid - two different traits are involved, and sex-linked - the pattern of inheritance that results from a mutant gene located on either the X or Y chromosome. Also, in relation to genetic crosses, it is necessary for the females in the parental generation to be virgins because this assures that all breeding/genetic crosses that are done are indeed from the parents of the most recent generation. If not, then an offspring can be inadvertently seen as a parent during