Biology Fruit Fly Experiment Lab Result
Jason Grannum
Professor Heeneman
Bio 152-100
February 27, 2013
Fruit Fly Lab
Data from my group: Vestigial winged offspring: 0 Wild Type winged offspring: 10
Data from class: Vestigial winged offspring: 42 Wild Type winged offspring: 237
Data from all classes: Vestigial winged offspring: 345 Wild Type winged offspring: 1,297
The hypothesis of the fruit fly mating experiment was that when placing homozygous recessive virgin female fruit flies in a mating tube with two homozygous males of each wing type, vestigial and wild type, the resulting offspring would fit the Hardy Weinberg theory that the offspring types would be split equally between homozygous recessive vestigial winged offspring and heterozygous wild type winged offspring. This predicted result did not occur. 79% of the offspring produced were heterozygous wild type, leaving only 21% of the offspring produced homozygous recessive. There are a number of reasons that this could have occurred. The original homozygous dominant wild type winged parent fruit fly’s had far greater ranges of movement, speed, agility, and prowess compared to the homozygous recessive vestigial winged parent fruit flies. Due to their shriveled non-functioning wings, they had greatly decreased movement, and therefore, in theory, had a much lower mating success rate. Another theory as to the resulting number of heterozygous dominant wild type offspring produced could be due to the females selecting a more physically admirable mate. If given the option, organisms in nature do their best to find the mate with the best observable features to produce the most viable offspring with the greatest reproductive success. The parent homozygous recessive vestigial female fruit fly’s could have tried to mate with the parent homozygous dominant wild type males and not the competing parent homozygous recessive vestigial males, in the attempt to produce offspring with a greater survival rate and
Professor Heeneman
Bio 152-100
February 27, 2013
Fruit Fly Lab
Data from my group: Vestigial winged offspring: 0 Wild Type winged offspring: 10
Data from class: Vestigial winged offspring: 42 Wild Type winged offspring: 237
Data from all classes: Vestigial winged offspring: 345 Wild Type winged offspring: 1,297
The hypothesis of the fruit fly mating experiment was that when placing homozygous recessive virgin female fruit flies in a mating tube with two homozygous males of each wing type, vestigial and wild type, the resulting offspring would fit the Hardy Weinberg theory that the offspring types would be split equally between homozygous recessive vestigial winged offspring and heterozygous wild type winged offspring. This predicted result did not occur. 79% of the offspring produced were heterozygous wild type, leaving only 21% of the offspring produced homozygous recessive. There are a number of reasons that this could have occurred. The original homozygous dominant wild type winged parent fruit fly’s had far greater ranges of movement, speed, agility, and prowess compared to the homozygous recessive vestigial winged parent fruit flies. Due to their shriveled non-functioning wings, they had greatly decreased movement, and therefore, in theory, had a much lower mating success rate. Another theory as to the resulting number of heterozygous dominant wild type offspring produced could be due to the females selecting a more physically admirable mate. If given the option, organisms in nature do their best to find the mate with the best observable features to produce the most viable offspring with the greatest reproductive success. The parent homozygous recessive vestigial female fruit fly’s could have tried to mate with the parent homozygous dominant wild type males and not the competing parent homozygous recessive vestigial males, in the attempt to produce offspring with a greater survival rate and