FEEDING HABITS OF DROSOPHILA MUTANTS
Name: Joshua Suidgeest
Student ID: U3081023
Tutorial Day and Time: Friday’s at 14:30 (until 17:30)
Tutor’s Name: Sandy
I declare that the written work presented in this report is my own work.
Abstract
As a pre-introduction to this lab report as a whole, this experiment was carried out to answer some questions that may come to mind when “Drosophila” and “Inheritance” are put in the same sentence. The Drosophila insect is a species of fly of five different variations which can be quite important in exploring some of the aspects of sex linkage. The following lab report is about one which was carried out using these very creatures as a test subject and three of Mendel’s propositions (“Characteristics are determined by genes which have two versions (alleles), a normal allele and a mutant allele”. “The normal allele is dominant and the mutant allele is recessive in each case”. “Each fly carries two of these genes but only passes one to each of the offspring, at random”.) as the basis of research.
Introduction
The Drosophila flies are a sex linked species which comprise of five different variations. They are an important specimen in testing and investigating questions to do with the biological study of sex linkage. The father of genetics, Gregor Mendel had a number of scientific questions in relation to inheritance and dominant and recessive alleles. The question we ask ourselves is: Does the pattern of inheritance of mutant and normal characteristics in the F1 generation of flies support Mendel’s propositions that: 1. Characteristics are determined by genes which have two versions (alleles), a normal allele and a mutant allele. 2. The normal allele is dominant and the mutant allele is recessive in each case. 3. Each fly carries two of these genes but only passes one to each of the offspring, at random. Using this research question (hypothesis), we can