Running head: ​DROSOPHILA​ LAB  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Study of Mendelian Genetics with ​Drosophila melanogaster 

Brooklyn G. Winnecke  

Genetics Lab- BIO262L-C  

 
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Introduction  

The purpose of this lab was to study Mendelian Genetics with data from reproducing ​Drosophila 

​ e chose ​Drosophila melanogaster, a​ common fruit fly, for this lab because they 
melanogaster. W

have short life spans, easily reproduce, and are simple to maintain. We wanted to study the 

Mendelian Laws of Inheritance by crossing wild type (winged) flies and mutant (apterous or 

wingless) flies. By creating three generations of ​Drosophila, ​we were able to analyze our data 

and compare them to Mendel’s ratios. Because the wild type trait is dominant to the mutant, we 

expected to see a ratio of 3:1 in our final F2 generation.  

Materials & Methods  

We started this lab on January 28. We first needed to prepare the food for the ​Drosophila​. To do 

this, we took a level cup Formula 4-24 Instant ​Drosophila​ Medium and added it to the vial. Then 

we followed up with water until the medium no longer looked dry. Then we sprinkled 6-8 grains 

of yeast onto the surface of the medium. We then took flies from the originale batch of flies 

shipped from Carolina Biological Supply Company and put them to sleep to start sorting for the 

P1 generation. To etherize the flies, we used FlyNap on a combing brush and stuck it into the 

vile. After the flies were asleep we shook them out onto a sorting card to determine which were 

the males, which were the females. Under a dissecting microscope, we looked at distinct features 

between the flies to determine the sex. We took five males without wings and five virgin females 

with wings and put them in the vile at a 45 degree angle. We plugged the tube and made sure that 

the vial was turned on its side to prevent the apterous flies from drowning in the medium. We 

also placed a netting into the vile for the flies to rest on if they did not have wings. On February 
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12, we placed our parent flies in the morgue (70% ethyl alcohol) to prevent them from mating 

with the progeny. We then prepared their offspring (F1) for the next generation (F2). To do this, 

we put the flies to sleep again with the FlyNap and shook them out onto a sorting card to look at 

them under the microscope. We then put 8 female flies and 8 male flies into a new vial of fly 

food prepared the same as for the P generation. On February 18, we put our F1 generation to 

sleep and left only the larvae in the vial. The parents of the F1 generation were placed into the fly 

morgue to prevent them from mating with the F2 generation. On February 25th and March 3rd, 

we counted our final F2 generation flies. We sorted them out under a microscope between wild 

type and mutant. All of the flies were discarded into the morgue.  

Results 

When we mated the P1 generation to make the F1, all of the progeny should have been 

heterozygous with wings. However, that is not what we found. Our F1 generation seemed to be 

all apterous flies. ​Figure 1 ​shows what the results should have been for our F1 generation. The 

“Cy” represents the mutant gene and the “+” represents the wildtype (Dominant). In order to get 

a proper F1 generation, my lab partner went to a different sections lab to try to take some of their 

F1 to mate. On February 18th, we crossed a borrowed F1 generation in a new vile. The offspring 

from the F1 generation, which would be the F2, should have been 75% wild type and 25% 

mutant according to Mendal’s ratios of 3:1. ​Figure 2 ​shows the genotypes predicted for the F2 

generation.  

 
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Figure 1: Punnett Square for F1 Generation  

Figure 2: Punnett Square for F2 Generation  

 
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Discussion  

My partner and I did have unexpected results when doing our ​Drosophila​ cross. Our F1 

generation should have all been heterozygous with wings, but instead we had all mutants. We 

came to the conclusion this is because the females that we used in our P1 generation were 

already pregnant before we could cross them. The expected ratio for our F2 generation according 

to Mendel's Laws of Inheritance were 3:1. After our final counting on March 3rd, we had 47 total 

flies. Our expected outcome would be that approximately 35 of the flies would have wings and 

12 would be wingless. Yet, in our vile 38 flies were wild type with wings, and we had 9 flies that 

were mutants without wings. I think the reason for this could have been that many of the flies 

that were in the vile drown into the medium and those would likely be wingless. That would 

explain why we have less mutants than expected. I will accept my original hypothesis because I 

believe that our data obtained from our F2 generation is very similar to a 3:1 ratio and there is 

not much error.  

References 

Boundless. (n.d.). Laws of Inheritance . Retrieved March 27, 2020, from

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-biology/chapter/laws-of-inheritance/​. 

Metz, C. (1914). An Apterous Drosophila and Its Genetic Behavior. ​The American Naturalist, 

48​(575), 675-692. Retrieved March 29, 2020, from ​www.jstor.org/stable/2456023​.