Essay On Yeast Roundworms And Fruit Flies

• Use these data to construct a map of these three genes in two steps.

Throughout this experiment a number of random and procedural errors were apparent; these errors could have affected the results of the experiment in a number of ways. One experimental error that occurred during the experiment was that some flies became stuck in the food source and died. The main cause of this was the fact that the fly vials were stood up (vertically) before the flies had fully recovered from the anaesthetic. This could be overcome in future experiments by ensuring that the vials are kept horizontal until all of the flies fully recover from the anaesthetic.

Drosophila melanogaster is a small, common fly found near unripe and rotted fruit. It has been in use for over a century to study genetics. Thomas Hunt Morgan was the best biologist studying Drosophila early in the 1900’s. Morgan was the first to discover sex-linkage and genetic recombination, which placed the small fly in the forefront of genetic research. Scientists have used Drosophila for many reasons. For one they are very easy to maintain, breed, anesthetize, and kill with little equipment. They are also very small and it is easy to distinguish males vs females and sexually mature flies and virgins. At lastly, the flies have a very short two week life span. On days 2-7 of their life

To set up this experiment, two twenty-five gallon aquariums, 3 petri-dishes, 200 flies, rotten bananas, and yeast were used. The bananas chosen to be an accelerant for the growth of the yeast and were frozen so they would be easier to cut. The yeast was used because the drosophila melanogaster prefer this as a food source.  The vestigial and wild type flies were sexed (to determine their sex), sorted, and counted.  An initial population size of 100 total flies was decided so that it would be easier to determine the phenotypic percentage of the total population. Fly paper was placed in one of the sets of cages to impose a method of natural selection as well as the sexual selection which is being solely tested by the other set of cages.

Genes can either be sex-linked or autosomal. If a gene appears mostly in one sex chances are the gene is sex-linked and if it appears frequently in both sexes it is most likely autosomal. Using Drosophila melanogaster, also known as the fruit fly, we will determine whether the gene is sex-linked or autosomal. Drosophila melanogasters have a relatively short life span and are an excellent organism for genetic studies because it has simple food requirements, occupies little space, is hardy, completes its life cycle in about 12 days at room temperature, produces large numbers of offspring, can be immobilized readily for examination and

we said goodbye and placed them in the fly morgue. We allowed the F2 larval

Nematodes, also known as roundworms due to their round cross-section, are parasites that can affect both domesticated and wild animals (Bassert and Thomas 451). The roundworms that are common in dogs are Ancylostoma caninum, Toxocara canis, and Trichuris vulpis (Bassert and Thomas 451). The roundworms that are common in cats are Ancylostoma tubaeforme, Dirofilaria immitis, and Toxocara cati (Bassert and Thomas 451). Dirofilaria immitis and Toxascaris leonina can affect both dogs and cats (Bassert and Thomas 451). Baylisascaris procyonis can affect both raccoons and dogs (Bassert and Thomas 454). Roundworms can live in many of the organs and systems of the body, such as the eye, gastrointestinal tract, urogenital system, circulatory system,

The Tallahassee Democrat News, a site that is part of the USA Today Network, reports current news on scientific advancements. The article, Fruit Flies Yield Clues On Cancerous Tumor Hotspots, offers an overview of the research done by Yoichiro Tamori, Wu-Min Deng, and Emiko Suzuki, who have discovered that epithelial tissues in fruit flies can be cancerous. The reasoning behind studying fruit flies is because, “Flies and humans have a lot in common in terms of genes and pathways for developing cancer” (Haughney). In the article, the researchers explain that the tumor hot spots, which appear to be near the epithelial tissues, found in fruit flies have also been found in several human cancers, “These tumor hotspots all involved an oncogenic signaling pathway that have been shown to play a part in many types of human cancers” (Haughney). However, the scientists do assure the reader that in distinct areas of the epithelial tissue there are tumor cold spots. Without a doubt, this is the beginning of a prolonged experiment, “The more we know, the better we can get at treating and preventing cancer” (Haughney).

The mealworm is a the larval form of the mealworm beetle. The four stages of insect life start when the mealworm egg is laid in the soil anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of months. After it hatches it sheds its exoskeleton, causing them to be a light brown color. The mealworms favorite meal are grains, like oatmeal and cornmeal. Once they have eaten enough, usually a week or two later, they develop their hard outer shell.

The experimental protocol used in this investigation was as outlined in the GENE223 Lab Manual ‘Gene223 teaching staff (2015)’ in a team of three, using ‘bait’ yeast

The Human Genome Project (HGP), an international scientific research project, has educated the public tremendously on various topics concerning DNA and genetics. This study has been beneficial to communities alike. As stated, the HGP sought to identify all the genes in human DNA, determine the sequences of the three billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA, store this information in databases, improve tools for data analysis, transfer related technologies to the private sector, and address the ethical, legal, and social issues that may arise from the project. In favor of achieving these goals, scientists studied the genetic makeup of several nonhuman organisms (Human Genome Management Information System, 2011).

The 20th century was a time of change for many fields of science, but in terms of genetics, Drosophila melanogaster rose as one of the most significant organisms to use as a model for scientific findings to come. Drosophila melanogaster is a small fly, approximately 2 mm in length that feeds on old, decomposing fruit. Over its 100+ years as a model organism, two decades, 1910-1920 and 1970-1980, proved to hold Drosophila melanogaster in utmost importance. Thomas Hunt Morgan, who did most of his work at Columbia University, led the first decade. He set forth the standards for transmission genetics and proved his theory that genes were located on individual pieces made up of DNA known as chromosomes. Furthermore, his methods and theories proved useful in the second decade and were used to establish control of the genetics of organisms. Specifically, this involved how the organism’s genes behaved and developed over time (Roberts 2006).

The HGP was a historical accumulation of genetics research. In the year 1911, Alfred Sturtevant came to the realization that he could pinpoint the locations of the mutated fruit fly genes the Thomas Hunt Morgan

Another man who contributed greatly to the study of genetics, was an American biologist by the name of Thomas Hunt Morgan. He studied the ways that characteristics were passed from one generation of fruit flies to the next. He learned that the genes in fruit flies behaved in the same way as the genes in pea plants. He also noticed that certain genes were inherited together more often than random chance should allow.

Drosophila is an ideal model organism that is largely used for the biological research study for over the centuries. In history, there is much research relevant to Drosophila contribute to the understanding of human towards different fundamental biological phenomena. The first published research paper on Drosophila in 1910, “Sex limited inheritance in Drosophila” was written by Dr. Thomas Hunt Morgan who was known as “father of Drosophila”. The theory of inheritance which was first proposed by Gregor Mendel was proved in the research paper by investigation on mutant fly lines. The research claimed that the genes are the physical basis of heredity that are present within the chromosomes. This made a big step forward to the understanding of modern genetics and it give rise to manipulation of