Brian Hamilton

AP Biology, Pd. 1
Lab Write-Up
Title: Breeding Mutations in Fruit Flies
Introduction:
Background: Genetics is the study of inheritance patterns in
various organisms. Genetics controls the different genes that
control the numerous traits shown in humans and other
organisms. Genes, also known as alleles, control the genetic
makeup of every organism. There are two types of alleles:
dominant and recessive alleles. If a person has to dominant
alleles, they are considered homozygous dominant and will show
the dominant phenotype, or physical characteristic. A person will
also show the dominant phenotype if they are heterozygous
dominant, meaning they have one dominant and one recessive
allele. A person will only show the recessive phenotype if that
person has a homozygous recessive genotype. Mutations can
occur in genes, often causing a change in the phenotype. In this
lab, we will be observing the genetics of fruit flies; specifically
the genetics of skin color in flies.

Hypothesis: If we cross a wild type male and ebony female and

then cross two of their offspring, the majority of the F1 and F2
offspring will be wild type tan.

Materials and Methods:

Materials:
Male Wild Type Fruit Fly
Female Ebony-Bodied Fruit Fly
Two Culture Bottles
Anesthetizing Bottle
Index Card
Stereomicroscope
Ether Bottle With Dropper
Six Sorting Containers
Methods:
1. Add three drops of ether to the cotton cork of the anesthetizing
bottle. Anesthetize the tan-colored male fruit fly. Pour the fly onto
the index card.
2. Drag the male fly to the microscope to observe it carefully.
3. Place the male fly into the culture bottle.

4. Anesthetize the female ebony-bodied fruit fly. Pour the fly onto
the index card and then drag the fly to the microscope to look at
it carefully. Record your observations.
5. Drag the female fly into the same culture bottle as the male fly
to cross the flies. After fifteen days, the culture bottle will contain
the F1 generation of offspring. Remove the parent flies from the
culture bottle.
6. Anesthetize the flies and pour them onto the index card. Drag
the flies to the microscope to look at them carefully. Observe one
female and one male from the F1 offspring. Record your
observations.
7. Drag the male flies into the container labeled Tan F1 Males and
the female flies into the container labeled Tan F1 Females.
Record the total number of flies.
8. Predict the ratio of each phenotype that will occur in the F2
generation. From the sorting containers, drag a male and a
female into a fresh culture bottle to cross the flies. After fifteen
days the culture bottle will contain the F2 generation of adult
offspring. Remove the parent flies.
9. Anesthetize the F2 generation offspring and pour the flies onto
the index card. Drag the flies to the microscope to look at them
carefully. Identify the sex and phenotype of one fly. Two
phenotypes have been produced, for a total of four types of flies
that need to be sorted. Place the fly in the appropriate sorting
container. Continue to identify the sex and phenotype of the F2
offspring. Record the total number of flies.

Statistical Methods: This lab used the statistical methods of

punnet squares to calculate the ratios of the F1 and F2
generations. In the first cross, we had TT x tt. When homozygous
dominant and homozygous recessive are crossed, we get a 1:0
ratio. All of the offspring will be heterozygous and phenotypically
tan. When two of these offspring are crossed, we are crossing Tt
x Tt. By doing this in a punnet square, we get a 1:2:1 ratio for the
genotypes (TT:Tt:tt) and a 3:1 ratio for the phenotypes
(Tan:Ebony).

Results:
Dependent Variable: There are no dependent variables in this
experiment.

Independent Variable: There are no independent variables in

this experiment.

Confounding Variable: The confounding variables in this

experiment would be the type of fly used, type of microscope
used, and amount of time allowed to pass.

Replication/Sample Size: In this lab, we had two crosses: first,

the two parent flies, and then two of their offspring. The cross of
the two parent flies created the F1 generation. The cross of the
two flies from the F1 generation created the F2 generation.

Controls: No controls were used in this experiment.

Organize Data:

Eye Color
Eye Shape
Wing
Shape
Body Color

Table 1: Traits of P and F1 Generations

P Generation
F1 Generation
Wild Type
Ebony
Male
Female
Male
Bodied
Female
Red
Red
Red
Red
Oval
Oval
Oval
Oval
Normal
Normal
Normal
Normal
Tan

Ebony

Tan

Tan

Table 2: Results of First Cross (F1 Generation)

Tan Male x Ebony Female
Phenotype
Number of Flies
Tan Female
51
Tan Male
49
Ebony Female
0
Ebony Male
0
Table 3: Second Cross (F2 Generation) Prediction
Male
Tan Body
Ebony Body
40
10
Female
Tan Body
Ebony Body
40
10

Table 4: Results of Second Cross (F2 Generation)

Phenotype
Number of Flies
Tan Female
39
Tan Male
37
Ebony-Bodied Female
12
Ebony-Bodied Male
13

Data Analysis: By analyzing the various tables of this

experiment, I can observe the ratios of common crosses. When
we crossed a homozygous dominant fly and a homozygous
recessive fly, we were left with all heterozygous flies. By looking
at Table 2, we can see that all of the F1 generation is tan, which
proves that crossing homozygous dominant and homozygous
recessive will give a dominant phenotype. I predicted that there
would be a 4:1 (Tan:Ebony) ratio after the second cross. My
prediction was relatively close; the results of the second cross, in
Table 4, show a ratio very close to my prediction. The ratio
should be 3:1, based on a punnet square cross of two
heterozygotes.
Conclusion: My hypothesis, that a majority of the F1 and F2 offspring
would be wild-type tan flies, was proved correct by the experiment.
What we did in this lab was take two flies, one a wild-type tan male
and the other an ebony female, and cross them, thus producing the F1
generation. Since the male was homozygous dominant and the female
was homozygous recessive, the entire F1 generation was heterozygous.
All of these flies showed the dominant tan body color. We then crossed
two of these offspring to create the F2 generation. Since the two flies
were heterozygous, the offspring would be in a ratio of 1:2:1 (TT:Tt:tt)
for the genotype and 3:1 (Tan:Ebony) for the phenotype. Since all of
the F1 generation was tan, and three out of four in the F2 generation
were tan, my hypothesis was proven right. The majority of the
offspring showed the dominant phenotype of tan. The ebony body
color disappeared during the F1 generation because we were crossing a
homozygous dominant fly and a homozygous recessive fly. The
dominant phenotype, tan, overshadowed the recessive phenotype,
ebony, because heterozygous dominant flies were produced. In the F2
generation, we crossed two homozygous dominant flies, which
produced a 3:1 ratio between the dominant and recessive phenotypes.
This means that one out of four flies would have the recessive ebony
body color.