Title : Genetic Inheritance of Drosophila Melanogaster

Objectives :

1. To determine the genotypes of parental generation of Drosophila melanogaster by

observing both the F1 and F2 generations and applying Chi Square analysis to the F2
offspring

2. To understand the principles that governs inheritance of genes on sex chromosomes.

3. To design genetic crosses to illustrate independent assortment and sex-linkage
4. To differentiate between male and female Drosophila melanogaster.

Introduction:

A monohybrid cross is a cross between parents who are heterozygous at one locus.
Monohybrid inheritance is the inheritance of a single characteristic. The different forms of the
characteristic are usually controlled by different alleles of the same gene. For example, a
monohybrid cross between two pure-breeding plants (homozygous for their respective traits),
one with yellow seeds (the dominant trait) and one with green seeds (the recessive trait), would
be expected to produce an F1 (first) generation with only yellow seeds because the allele for
yellow seeds is dominant to that of green. A monohybrid cross compares only one trait.

In dihybrid cross, in which two characteristics were observed, the F1 generation only
expressed the dominant phenotype. In F2 generation, both dominant and recessive traits were
expressed and four phenotypic categories with a ratio of 9:3:3:1 were noticed. This cross lead to
the Law of Independent Assortment, which states that each pair of alleles segregate
independently of other pairs of alleles during gametogenesis.

This is sex-linked genes, genes located on one of the sex chromosomes (X or Y) but not
the other. Since, typically the X chromosome is longer, it bears a lot of genes not found on the Y
chromosome, thus most sex-linked genes are X-linked genes. One example of a sex-linked
gene is fruit fly eye color.

Drosophilia melanogaster, the fruit fly, is an excellent organism for genetics studies
because it has simple food requirements, occupies little space, is hardy, completes its life cycle
in about 12 days at room temperature, produces large numbers of offspring, can be immobilized
readily for examination and sorting, and has many types of heredity variations that can be
observed with low power magnification. Drosophila has a small number of chromosomes ( four
pairs). These chromosomes are easily located in the large salivary gland cells. To ensure a
controlled mating, it is necessary to use females that have not been mated before (virgins).

Methodology:

Materials:

1. Dissecting microscope
2. Petri dish
3. Sterile plastic vials with foam cover
4. Fine-bristle paintbrushes
5. Anesthetic
6. Fruit fly nutrition compound

Method:

1. A vial of wild type flies was obtained. These flies were immobilizing and sexing. These
flies were examined and the characteristics were noted.
2. The immobilized flies were placed on petri dish . the flies were placed under the
dissecting microscope to view the characteristics.
3. Male flies were distinguished from female flies.
4. There were 4 types of Drosophila that need to be done are:

Types of Crossing MALE FEMALE

Monohybrid Ebony body Black body

Dihybrid Black body, red eyes Ebony body, white eyes

X-linked White eyes Red eyes

Red eyes White eyes

5. 5 males and 5 females of Drosophila for each cross were choosing.
6. Each vial have 5 pairs of experimental flies. The cross number of vial have been
recorded. The female laid eggs on the surface of culture medium. The eggs represent
the first filial, F1 generation and will be emerging from their pupal cases in about a week.
7. The parental flies were immobilized and removed.
8. At second week, the F1 generation was begin be observed. The characteristic and sex
of the flies were recorded.
9. Five pairs of F1 flies were placed in fresh culture vial to produce F2 generation. For this
cross the females need not be virgins.
10. After the F2 eggs had been hatched, the F1 generation were immobilized and removed
from the vial.
11.The F2 flies were begin removed. Their sex and the presence or absence of mutation
were observed. The more F2 flies collected, the more reliable the data will be

A. Mohohybrid cross
 Result:

Table 1: Phenotypes of F1 generation

Number of progeny

Phenotype Males Females Total

Black body 43 56 99

Ebony body 0 0 0

Table 2: Phenotypes of F2 generation

Number of progeny

Phenotype Males Females Total

Black body 40 46 86

Ebony body 13 11 24

110

Class Observed Expected (O-E)2 (O-E)2/Expected

Black body 86 82.5 12.25 0.148

Ebony body 24 27.5 12.25 0.445

Totals 110 110 Chi2 = 0.593

Df = 1, 0.5>p>0.1

Discussion:

Monohybrid cross breeding refer to a genetic cross between parents that differ in the alleles
they posses for one particular gene, one parent having two dominant alleles and the other two
recessives. All of the offspring (called monohybrids) have one dominant and one recessive
allele for that gene. Crossing between these offspring yields a characteristic 3:1 ratio in the
following generation of dominant:recessive phenotypes.
In crossbreeding between Drosophila melanogaster black body male with ebony body female,
the F1 generations yields are all black body,43 males and 56 females. All offsprings are shown
black body because black alleles are dominant to ebony alleles. The dominant alleles shows in
phenotype appearance.

We take the F1 generation and do the self-breeding. In F2 generation, the offsprings yields are
40 black body males, 46 black body females, 13 ebony males and 11 ebony females. The
ebony appearance shows in F2 generation because the it is recessive alleles. The number of
ebony is one over 16 from the total number of offspring.

After calculated the value of chi, we determined that the number of offspring yields observed are
nearly same with the expected offspring. Df is 1, 0.5>p>0.1.

B. Dihybrid cross

Result:

Class Observed Expected (O-E)2 (O-E)2/Expected

Black body, red 45 43.9 1.21 0.028

eyes

Black body, 13 14.6 2.56 0.175

white eyes

Ebony body, 16 14.6 1.96 0.134

red eyes

Ebony body, 4 4.9 0.81 0.165

white eyes

Totals 78 78 Chi2 = 0.502

Df = 3, 0.5>p>0.1

Discussion:

Dihybrid cross involved 2 traits of Drosophila which were between colour of body and eye colour
has been crossed in this experiment. We know that the gene that controls these traits is
autosomal chromosomes. Since the autosomal chromosomes control these traits, the cross can
be done by using normal cross without x- link. The Chi Square test is a statiscal method used to
determine goodness of fit. Goodness of fit refers to how close the observed data are to those
predicted from a hypothesis. The chi square test does not prove that the hypothesis is correct, it
evaluates whether or the data and the hypothesis have good fit. In this case, we have used the
chi square test. So we have to determine the degrees of freedom (df). The df is a measure of
the number of categories that are independent of each other. Based on the result that has been
calculated, therefore, with df= 3, the chi square value of 0.502 is greater than 0.352 in which
correspond to P= 0.95. Low chi square of the calculated result indicates a high probability that
the observed deviations could be due to random chance alone. P= 0.95 means that values
equal or greater than 0.352 are expected to occur 95% of the time based on random chance
alone. Therefore, it is quite probable that the deviations between the observed and expected
values in this experiment can be explained by random sampling error. The calculated result that
we obtained can be accepted because it is greater than 0.05.

C. X-linked gene cross

Result:
 Cross 1

Female wild type (red eye) X Male white eye

phenotype Number of flies

Male wild type 27

Female wild type 24

Male white eye 31

Female white eye 20

Cross 2

Male wild type (red eye) X Female white eye

phenotype Number of flies

Male wild type 23

Female wild type 17

Male white eye 18

Female white eye 16

Discussion:

T.H. Morgan in 1910 crossed a red eyed pure breeding female fly with a white eyed male.

For cross 1: Red eyed female X White eyed male.

For this cross, the F1 generation yield all red eyed offsprings. When the F1 is inbred, white eye
appears in ¼ th of the F2 generations as in Mendel’s monohybrid experiment. For autosomal
gene, F2 offspring all the females are red. But among the males, half are white eyed. This
occupies ratio 3 red eyes : 1 white eyes.
The parent red eyed female must be homozygous, XW+XW+ and white eyed male must be XwY.
thus, red eyed female transmit their red eyed gene to all their F1 offspring through X
chromosomes. So F1 offspring are red eyed.

For cross 2 : Red eyed male X white eyed female

For this reciprocal cross, the F1 generation yield all females are red eyed while all the male are
white eyed. They are produced in equal number. When these F1 offspring are interbred, F2
offsprings consist of red and white eyed individuals in equal proportion in both the sexes.the
ration yield is 1 red : 1 white.

The parent red eyed male must be hemizygous,XW+Y and white eyed female must be XwXw. The
Xw are fertilized by XW+ and Y. So it yield XW+Xw and XwY . The F1 generation would be
heterozygous and hemizygous recessive.

Based on our experiment, for cross 1 we cannot get F2 generation with ratio 1 red male : 2 red
female : 1 white male. Probably this happened because of the error in counting F2 generation.
During the disposing of F1 generation, there are a few egg of F1 are not hachted yet. So we
assume that the egg are F2 generation. Other than that, probably we have did some error in
distinguished male and female drosophila.

Conclusion:

The number of offspring yields in F1 and F2 generation are following Mendel’s ratio.

Based on this experiment, we can conclude that the dihybrid cross in Drosophila is
succeed although we have to repeat it twice due to some errors.

In x-linked cross, a red eye is the dominant trait towards white eyes. In F2 generation, white
eyes only affected male Drosophila. The ratio of the F2 phenotype ratio is 3:1.The gene affected
in the white-eye mutant is located exclusively on the X chromosome.
References:

N.A Campbell & J.B Reece (2005). Biolology 7th ed., San Fransisco. Pearson Benjamin
Cummings.
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Courses/bio105/sex-link.htm

http://main.uab.edu/cord/show.asp?durki=45462

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drosophila_melanogaster

http://www.studentsguide.in/genetics/sex-linked-inheritance/html

http://www.microbiologyprocedure.com/genetics.html

UNIVERSITI PENDIDIKAN SULTAN IDRIS

 TBG 2013

Mendelian Inheritance Patterns in

Drosophila Melanogaster

NAME MATRIC NO

LEE TACK HOOI D20081032349

MUHAMMAD SHAKIR BIN CHE SOH D20081032384

D20081032384

WAN MOHD SYAHIRAN BIN WAN D20081032317

SABARUDIN

NURUL AIN FATHIHAH BT MOHD ROSHIDAN D20081032381

RAJA NUR AIMI BT RAJA IBRAHIM D20081032328

LECTURER’S NAME : DR FATIMAH BT MOHAMED

GROUP : A

SEMESTER 3