Virtual Fly Lab

On Laptop Computers

Login and select Fly Lab Icon on desktop.  Virtual Fly Lab will open a dialogue screen and the icon buttons for each lab are on the left side of the screen.  Please complete all of the lab experiments.

To begin your experiment, you must first select the phenotypes for the flies that will be mated. In addition to wild-type flies, there are thousands of different mutations of the common fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. These mutations create phenotypic changes in; body color, antennae shape, eye color, eye shape, wing size, wing shape, wing vein structure, wing angle and many other features. For the purposes of our simulation, genetic inheritance in our virtual lab will follow Mendelian principles of complete dominance.

Complete the first P1 cross creating the F1 individuals then read the following information and answer the questions.

Ratio - the number of items in one category compared with the number of items in another category. For example, given 24 wild type flies and 4 vestigial-winged flies, the wt to vestigial ratio is 24 to 4 (or 24:4 or 24/4). Since 24/4 = 6, it is easy to see that there are 6 times as many wt flies as vestigial-winged flies. Ratios are especially valuable when there are more than two categories. For example, given 24 wild type flies and 4 vestigial-winged flies and 4 apterous flies, the wt to vestigial to apterous ratio is 24:4:4 or 6:1:1.
Proportion - the ratio of the number of items in one category to the total of all items. Continuing with the first example above, there are four vestigial-winged out of 28 total individuals. Fractional proportion -- 4/28 or 1/7 are vestigial-winged. Decimal proportion -- 0.142 are female.
Percentage - when a proportion is multiplied by 100 it becomes a percentage.
Continuing with the example, 14.2% of the individuals are vestigial-winged.

Questions:

  • Are the phenotypes of the F1 offspring what you would have predicted from your cross?
  • Why or why not?
  • What are the Genotypes of your F1 Flies?
  • Calculate the proportions and ratios for the different phenotypes of your F1 Flies.
F1 Phenotype Number Proportion Ratio
Wild Type      
Vestigial      
Apterous      

 

After completing the F1 cross which creates the F2 individuals answer the following questions.

  • Are the phenotypes of the F2 offspring what you would have predicted from your F1 cross?
  • Why or why not?
  • What are the Genotypes of your F2 Flies?
  • Calculate the proportions and ratios for the different genotypes and phenotypes of your F2 Flies.
F2 Phenotype Number Proportion Ratio
Wild Type      
Vestigial      
Apterous