Miniature wing size and apterous appearance are inherited as recessive alleles in Drosophila melanogaster

Zoey Gustafson Sierra Nevada College

Introduction: Drosophila have been a popular animal for many centuries when studying genetics. This is because they reproduce quickly, are easy to breed and take care of, and varying phenotypes are typically easily seen using a basic stereo microscope. I was given vials containing an F1 generation of an unknown cross, and my goal was to discover the two mutant strains apparent in the population and to determine by what means these traits were genetically passed down. I created an F2 generation with these flies in order for recessive traits to reveal themselves that would otherwise be unrecognizable in the previous generation. This is because if only one parent contains a recessive allele, only one copy of it will be passed down to the next generation and the dominant allele passed down from the other parent will be seen phenotypically. This generation then becomes heterozygous. When two parents that are heterozygous for a recessive trait mate, the next generation has the potential to inherit two copies of the recessive allele and therefore will show the recessive trait phenotypically. Some genes are linked to the X chromosome1. Males have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome, while females have two X chromosomes. Whatever traits are linked to the males one X chromosome will appear phenotypically, even if they are recessive traits. Results: I calculated the expected frequencies for both possible crosses using Punnett squares. These calculations take into consideration that miniature is an X-linked mutation and apterous is an autosomal mutation2 Graphs 1 and 2 below show the phenotypic frequencies that I measured in the populations of my original fly vials, and the test crosses that I prepared. There was an unknown phenotype present in very small frequencies in my test crosses.

Graph 1

Graph 2

Graph 3

Graph 4

Figure 12

Figure 2

Methods: Vials with an F1 generation of Drosophila melanogaster were dispersed by Genetics professor, Dr. Suzanne Gollery. Once pupae emerged into adults, they were anesthetized, sorted, and counted. Then new vials were created 5-6 with members of each sex of the F1 generation to create an F2 generation which were also anesthetized, sorted, and counted. The parental generation of flies was allotted time to reproduce and lay eggs. Once the F1 generation of flies could be seen in their larval or pupal stage, the parents were removed in order to eliminate the risk of parents mating with the F1 generation once they emerge. For test crosses, pure-bred males with one mutation were mated with females with the other mutation and then vice versa.

Discussion: It appears that my original flies had an F1 generation similar to that of the second cross, as seen in graph 1 because they both lacked miniature males. However, graph 2 shows that my original flies had an F2 generation similar to the first cross because they both show the presence of miniature females. Also, it is more feasible that the first cross is the match for my original flies because miniature females were present in the F2 generation which would be a very novel find in crosses like the second cross. Therefore, I conclude that my original flies were the product of females with the miniature mutation and males with the apterous mutation. I can also conclude that miniature is an X-linked recessive trait and apterous is an autosomal recessive trait because my predicted frequencies matched the observed frequencies as seen in graphs 3 and 4. The slight difference in expected vs. actual apterous flies is most likely because this mutation seems to cause slower development, and may possibly affect viability. I noticed that when scoring my flies, the apterous mutation took several days longer to show up in my populations. However, I cannot make any conclusions involving the unknown phenotype (Figure 2) without more analysis. It appears that these very small wings are the combination of the miniature and apterous phenotypes. It would be very interesting to determine the mode of inheritance for this trait. If I could obtain 5-6 males and females with this trait, then I could cross them to see what frequency of the next generation also would carry the trait. Also, I could cross wild-type flies with the unknown flies and see what phenotypic ratios were present in their offspring.
Sources: 1. Klug WS, Cummings MR, Spencer CA, Palladino MA. Essentials of genetics. 8th ed. Pearson; 2013. 2. Flagg, RO. Carolina drosophila manual. Burlington (NC): Carolina Biological Supply Company; 1988. 31 p.