Vestigial Flies Experiment

The experiment was performed on February 2nd 2016 at the University of Calgary in a Biological Science laboratory. The experimental procedure was done in a group of four students.

One possible error that may have occurred was that some of the adult flies may have accidentally been left in the vials with their offspring,

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

It was decided that there would be 80 vestigial flies and 20 wild type flies to total to an initial population of 100 drosophila. Next, the flies were anesthetized flies using Fly Nap. The flies were counted out to reach desired ratio, sexing the flies making sure there are equal amounts of males and females to be sure there is ample individuals to allow successful mating. The fly’s food was prepared by taking a frozen rotten banana, cutting it in half, mashing up the banana meat, and mixing yeast into it. The

In our experiment, we created three crosses; DxG,BxD, and BxG. In crosses BxG and BxD we found a rare mutant fly. This unusual mutant had a misshapen abdomen, deformed wings, and was pale in color. While the mutant was rare, due to the fact that it popped up in both those populations, we hypothesized that this genetic mutant had already previously been discovered and named.

Maintaining healthy cultures is essential in achieving the proper outcome expected for this lab. Before preparation of vials, or observation of flies, the workbenches and equipment, such as brushes, pipets, and measuring tools were wiped down with 70% ethanol ,and fly pads, as well as Co2 guns, were thoroughly disinfected with kim wipes. Hands were required to be thoroughly washed with anti-bacterial soap and completely dry, especially before preparation of food. Distilled water and other required sources were regularly changed in order to maintain

California grizzlies had been around earth for centuries before humans invaded their territory. In the state of California, “some [California grizzlies] grew to a formidable height of 8 feet and weighed 2,000 pounds, according to a history of California written in 1898”, which made them targets for the various resources they could provide naturally (Staff). When miners came to California to harvest the gold, they began to see the grizzlies as a threat. In “less than 75 years after the discovery of gold… every grizzly in California had been tracked down and killed” making it extinct shortly after (Staff). Grizzlies in California were hunted and killed because they were seen as dangerous and hunters would harvest them for their resource of warm

You can collect individual flies that you have generated (for use in future experiments) by dragging them

For the dark environment we cut out a sheet of black paper and taped it to the top of the observation chamber, for the light environment two flashlights were above the chamber. A funnel was used to put the bugs in the middle and keep them there until the timer was started. After thirty seconds when the pill bugs were released our group counted how many bugs were either in the neutral, dark, or light section of the observation chamber this is how the data was collected. This experiment had two trials, so the data, that was collected during both trials were averaged out. During the second experiment that was conducted the pill bugs were once again placed in the middle of the observation chamber with the funnel, but this time one section of the chamber had soil with three drops of water, while the other section of the chamber had soil with 3 drops of vinegar. Once thirty seconds had past after the bugs had been released each member of the group counted how many bugs were on each sections of the chamber. This experiment was done twice and then the data was averaged out the data. This method of collecting data was chosen because this was the simplest and most efficient way of collecting

It may be a New Year, but that doesn’t mean the winter is anywhere close to over. In fact, Ludlow, Kentucky could be facing some serious cold and snow in the next couple of weeks, and it always pays to be prepared. That’s why Ideal Supplies, your local hardware store, recommends that you stock up on your salt/calcium pellets now before it’s too late. You don’t want to be desperate for ice remover when there’s already ice on the ground.

Heterozygotes, which have the wild type phenotype, have normal sight which gives them the advantage of finding a mate and have a better success with attracting a mate with their courtship song (Kyriacou et al, 1978). The male heterozygous Drosophila had a better advantage at mating than the homozygotes, which were the ebony, and therefore we predict there will be more wild type by the end of the experiment.

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

A common trait that is associated with human beings is adaptation whereby individuals tend to develop similar behaviors as they evolve in life. Adaptation refers to situations where a common behavior or character is found to be followed by current societies in the same ways as those in past generations (Becker, 2014). Once a common trait is adapted by one individual and later on an entire society follows the same it becomes hard to break it down. Therefore it leads to this trait being followed through by all generations to come later as it has become a functional adaptation.

Some larva containing vials had hatched into flies. Counting of the flies began at this point. As flies started to grow, at different rates for each vial, with in the first seven days after all larva had hatched the flies were counted. The procedure was done according to theDrosophila manual (45-2620)

An experiment was conducted to test the effects of different carbon dioxide concentrations on the mutations of later generations of Drosophila melanogaster. The model organism, Drosophila melanogaster, commonly known as the fruit fly is used widely in many fields of developmental studies because of its traits of fast reproduction rate, Hox genes, and low maintenance. In addition, the type of Hox genes tested in the Drosophila melanogaster, or the gene most susceptible to alteration from the increased CO2 emissions, are the Hom-C ANTp genes. The subset of genes is relatable to the Hox-A A6 genes in humans. It was hypothesized that an increase in the CO2 concentrations will cause the future generations of fruit flies to exhibit signs of genetic