Question

Who is called Cinderella of genetics?

Answer 1

In genetics there are a number of organisms that have been used as the genetic model organism. They are used to analyse the genetic processes that are common to higher organisms. One such organism is called “Cinderella” in genetics because of its short life span.

Complete answer:
Several discoveries have been made till now in the field of genetic research. It is one of the fastest developing research areas in the world nowadays. Genetic engineering has progressed a lot over the last few decades. There are many organisms that have been used for genetic research experiments. We all are familiar with Gregor Mendel who used sweet pea plants for his discovery.

In addition to it, there are many genetic studies and experiments that were conducted on what is known as the “Cinderella” of genetics- Drosophila Melanogaster or we simply call it as fruit. There are over 2,500 species of Drosophila that are found all over the world. D. melanogaster is one of the most extensively exploited species of Drosophila that have been extensively exploited for research.

Drosophila has been used as model organisms for many experiments right from the beginning of the 20th century. Those days are the early years of development in the field of genetics. TH Morgan pioneered the use of Drosophila at Columbia University for the study of genetics. It has been chosen for many experiments because it has been a strong model for the study of epigenetic mechanisms. There are many signalling pathways that are conserved in the man and the fly.

It is used in most of the research related to the field of genetics because of the short span cycle of 10 to 11 days at 22 degrees C with high reproductive potential. They can produce a large number of progeny in a short duration of time, which is required for statistical analysis of the result.

Note: Drosophila melanogaster is a well-studied and extremely efficacious genetic model organism that has been used in many genetic processes that are common in humans. It emerged as a prototype for the study of genomics and has become the third eukaryote to be fully sequenced. Till now all the coding which is approximately 120 mega- bases has been determined till now.