THE USE OF DROSOPHILA AS GENETIC

EXPERIMENTAL ORGANISM

By:
Name : Suryadi
Student ID : B1B015023
Group : VI
Subgroup :1
Assistant : Reinhard S. Simbolon

PRACTICAL REPORT OF GENETICS

MINISTRY OF RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY, AND HIGH EDUCATION

JENDERAL SOEDIRMAN UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF BIOLOGY
PURWOKERTO
2016
 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

A. Result

Figure 1. Wild type of Drosophila melanogaster

Figure 2. Mutant type of Drosophila melanogaster

 B. Discussion

The females are on average bigger than males. However, since the difference in
size is not significant, you will have to use further criteria. The abdomen of males bears
a round termini exhibiting a brownish genital apparatus on the ventral side. Females
have a pointed abdomen that displays a less noticeable genital apparatus on the ventral
side. In the male situation the two posterior most stern its (dorsal cuticle plates) visible
from the dorsal side are completely black, while in females only the last visible
segment is black. A very certain feature to distinguish males from females in the sex
comb. This dark comb-like structure of the basotarsus (the most proximal tarsal joint)
is only found on the male foreleg.
In order to perform crosses, you will have to use females that were not fertilized
prior to the intended cross. In this case you will have to collect virginal females (in

diagrams indicated as a female sign with a little "v" on top: ). How to identify a
virgin: Safest method: clear all flies from the culture vial and then wait for a few hours.
This depends on the temperature at 25C it takes 4-6 hours before a male is sexually
mature, at 18C you have about 20 hours. Thus, separate all females enclosed within
this timeframe from males. It is no problem to keep flies at 4 for a short time, this
sometimes helps when you collect a large number of virgins. Otherwise you have to
rely on the following phenotypic characteristics: elongated abdomen thin and
transparent cuticle meconium in the gut is visible. Sub-culture is a proses to move fruit
fly to the new culture. The purpose of sub-culture is to avoid contamination, fixed the
nutrition on media, and get new fly.
Drosophila melanogaster, commonly known as the fruit fly, is found through
Out the world, and its Natural habitat is rotting fruit. Raised at 25C in rich culture
medium in the laboratory, flies complete their life cycle in less than 2 weeks, and a
single female can lay several hundred eggs. Flies are small enough to be raised in large
numbers in a confined space, but large enough for morphological, and more recently,
behavioral, mutants to be easily recognizable. Biochemical differences, too, can be
identified in single flies. The haploid chromosomes number is four. In certain larval
tissues, notably the salivary glands, the chromosomes are very large (polygene
chromosomes) and have been fully described in terms of their easily visible banding
patterns. This makes Drosophila an excellent subject for the study of chromosome
structure and function, and of gene action & its control.
 The fruit fly was originally regarded as a menace, especially to farmers;
however, since Nobel Prize winner Thomas Hunt Morgan began to untangle their
genetics with the discovery of the first mutant, white, the humble fly has become one
of the forerunners in research. Now it is used as a model system for animals
studying a range of topics from development, behavior and even the basis of human
disease. The fly has even been used to study alcoholism and as the starting point for
drug trials in human medicine! And many of the reasons the fly is a perfect fit for
research can be carried over for simple classroom experiments. Being small
(approximately 3mm long) large populations of flies can be stored in minimal space,
and their needs are relatively simple resulting in a lower cost maintenance. Its short
life cycle allow for a fast turnover of generations to study. And now it has the backing
of many decades of research lending the wealth of knowledge of mutations and
methods to draw upon.
In natural populations. Such stocks have been cultured in the laboratory for
many years; at regular intervals, a small number of flies are transferred to a fresh
culture bottle. Such stocks are usually "true breeding for all wild--type
characteristics, though they may still carry some "hidden" genetic variation due to
recessive mutations. Very rarely, a mutant individual may be found in the stock, but
this will be removed from the wild--type stock during sub culturing. Since D.
melanogaster was first used for genetic research at the beginning of this century,
thousands of different mutant types have been identified and isolated, many of them
induced by X--rays or by chemical mutagens. A "mutant stock" is a culture that breeds
true for one or more particular mutant characteristic. Each mutant stock has been
"constructed" by special selection methods or crosses at some time in the past and it is
now carefully maintained by repeated sub--culturing. The characteristics of a mutant
stock may be due to a mutant form of a single gene or to several different genes,
depending on how the stock has been constructed. Genetic analysis of crosses between
mutant and wild--type stocks is necessary to determine the number of genes involved.
Based on the practical works, there are 4 types of D. melanogaster mutant:
1. Ebony
Ebony fly has black color on its skin, this caused by mutation on third
chromosome, the locus at 70.7 centimorgan has mutated.
2. Dumpy
 Dumpy fly has very small wings on its body, this condition make dumpy cannot
fly. Dumpy experience mutation on chromosome two with range 13 centimorgan.
3. White eyes
In white eyes fly the pethidine pigment not expressed because there is mutation
on chromosome 1 with range 1.5 centimorgan.
4. Psi eyes
Psi eyes fly experience mutation on chromosome 4 with 2 centimorgan range
that will affect the eyes fly condition. In psi eyes mutation, the fly doesnt have
eyes on its body