Tests
To check for ALS, we did some locomotor/climbing assays. We tapped down flies to the bottom of a graduated cylinder and evaluated how many were able to climb beyond a certain point in 2 minutes.
We hypothesized that almost all normal flies will fly to top as part of their "innate escape response". Since ALS flies have trouble with motor function this would not be true and flies shouldn't be able to cross that certain point as quickly.
Results
For WT and OR flies we weren't able to get our close to 100% for flies crossing the line. This might be because:
We performed some of the trials right after knocking them out with CO2 which might impair their motor function.
Our trial time was 2 minutes and a lot of the flies that went to the top came back down again. If the flies went to the top as part of "innate escape response", it makes sense that they wouldn't be there without any incentive.
We have no good way of measuring what percentage of flies went to the top at least once. Getting highest count over intervals is still flawed as not all might go to top at the same time.
We can probably circumvent these by
testing flies a day after knocking them out for separation,
adding some incentive like food at the top of the cylinder & starving them so that they stay there OR add some bad smell(?) at the bottom.
decreasing the trial time to make sure flies don't limp to the top(healthy flies are unlikely to move slowly), and figure out a way to measure # of flies better.
