Drosophila Melanogaster Essay

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Introduction * Brief history of Mendelian genetics Gregor Mendel, a Moravian monk is known for his good record keeping that lead to the basis of genetics and inheritance due to the fact that unlike other general ideas of inheritance, Mendelian genetics includes a quantitative understanding of the way in which particular traits were passed from parents to offspring (Pappas, 2012). Mendel replaced the blending theory of inheritance with the particulate theory, which states that inherited characters are determined by particular factors (genes), these factors were to occur in pairs and that when gametes were formed, they received only one homologous pair, also referred to as segregation (NAME, YEAR). It was also noted that not all copies of a gene are identical, alleles remained discrete and the presence of an allele did not guarantee expression. * Brief history of Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism for genetic studies Drosophila Melanogaster is a model organism which is widely used for genetic studies for many reasons such as the fact that they can be manipulated easily, it is easy to count progeny and due to less chromosomes you can still see synapsis, they are cheap and there is no ethical setbacks. One of the most important factors that make drosophila a model organism is that they have a short life cycle which makes it easier to use for time structured experiments. * Include the bonus material here (4 sentences max- be sure to cite the references!) * Life cycle; distinguishing male and female flies The life cycle takes about 10-14 days at room temperature for drosophila to go from egg to adult. The four stages undergone during the life cycle are egg, larvae, pupa and adult. During the cycle the eggs hatch into the first instar larvae they then feed on the culture medium and go through many stages within this state until they reach the
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