Fruit Flies Phenotypes

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Genetics can simply be defined as the study of heredity. Heredity is the biological process where a parent passes certain genes to their offspring. In our laboratory, our group mated fruit flies to witness Mendel’s laws and heredity in action. “The genetic instructions to build a fruit fly-or any other organism-are imprinted in its DNA, a long, threadlike molecule packaged in bundles called chromosomes. Each chromosome consists of many individual sections called genes. Each gene carries some of the instructions for building one particular characteristic of an organism. By creating new gene versions, mutations could arise that allow for a change in fruit flies phenotypes such as eye color”(1). A mutation occurs from a change in the nucleotide sequence on the DNA. The wild type eye color for fruit flies is red. Variations in eye…show more content…
In a nutshell, an individual, in this case, a fruit fly that’s heterozygous for two codominant alleles will express the phenotypes associated with both alleles. This can be seen in the eye color of a fruit fly if the fly has both the red color from the wild type as well as a black color. This fly will express codominance because the fly will have red and white speckled eyes! Mutations are neither good nor bad: some may be beneficial for an organism; others may be lethal. By creating new gene versions, mutations are a driving force for changes in evolution to allow for new eye colors. They can be harmful in the case for humans when mutations on the chromosomal level could lead to diseases such as down syndrome from having three copies of the 21st chromosome. References (1) "Exhibit: Mutant Fruit Flies - Drosophila Genetics | Exploratorium." Exhibit: Mutant Fruit Flies - Drosophila Genetics | Exploratorium. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2013. <http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/mutant_flies/mutant_flies.html>. Works
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