Question

Discuss why Drosophila has been used extensively for genetical studies.

Answer 1

Drosophila melanogaster or fruit fly is a tiny fly of about 2 mm size which is found over ripe fruits like mango and banana. It is used for extensive genetic studies due to many favorable factors. Many experiments of major important significance were conducted on fruit fly like Linkage and Recombination, Sex linked Inheritance, etc.

Complete answer:
Drosophila is suitable as an experimental material for the following reasons:
1. It could be grown on a simple synthetic medium in the laboratory.
2. The fly has a short life cycle of two weeks. The fruit fly can be bred throughout the year so that numerous generations can be obtained in a single year.
3. A single mating produces hundreds of offspring.
4. Females are easily distinguishable from males by the larger body size and presence of ovipositor (egg-laying structure).
5. It has a smaller number (4 pairs) of morphologically distinct chromosomes.
6. It has many types of hereditary variations that can be seen with low power microscopes.
7. It has heteromorphic (dissimilar) sex chromosomes in the male (XY). The transmission of heteromorphic chromosomes can be easily studied from one generation to another.

Note:
Drosophila is the insect over which genetic experiments majorly involving the animals are done. For plants, a fungus called Neurospora is used for genetic and research purposes. For this reason, Neurospora is also known as “ Drosophila of the plant kingdom”. This fungus falls under the category of ascomycetes. The experiments that specifically indulge learning upon plants are carried out on this fungus.