Fly Basics
A brief overview of drosophila melonogaster
LIFE SPAN
There are four stages of a drosophila melanogaster; the egg, the larvae, the pupae, and the adult stages. In this lab, we stored the flies in either an 18° or 25° C incubator. The latter is allows the flies to develop at a normal rate while storage in the 18° slows the flies' rate of growth and thus, extends their lifespan.
SEXES
Males
Features:
Shorter abdomen
Blunt abdomen
Bristle on forelegs
Black tip at the end of the abdomen
Females
Features:
Longer abdomen
Pointy abdomen
NO bristle on forelegs
NO black tip at the end of abdomen
VIRGINS
Females with a recently hatched appearance will be virgins
Dark abdominal spot (indicates the fly larval gut in the adult abdomen which is expelled within 3 hours after adult formation)
BALANCERS
CyO
Wings that curl upwards are known as curly wings. This could be used as a genetic marker to help us track flies with specific genetic backgrounds. CyO acts as a balancer so during our cross it can single out a gene. In other words, it prevents crossing-over or recombination.
Wild Type
Wild type wing of a female fly.
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