Fruit Fly Traps
- Easy to Use
- Disposable
- Resealable
- Non-Toxic
Human History of Fruit Flies FAQ
Or, "Stuff I learned from a great little book by Brookes, Martin, 'Fly: an experimental life', Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001". (pages as noted)
See also: How to make a home-made fruit fly trap
See also: General Fruit Fly FAQ
- Q: When was the fruit fly first "officially" studied?
- Q: What've they ever done for us?
- Q: OK, What is their relationship to modern genetics?
Q: When was the fruit fly first "officially" studied?
A: The fruit fly was first studied academically in 1900 by Harvard Prof. William Castle. (p.3)
Q: What've they ever done for us?
A: At Columbia U in 1909, a fruit fly spontaneously changes eye color. This work eventually leads fruit flies to take the credit for being the test subjects in unlocking genetic inheritance. (p.6)
Q: OK, What is their relationship to modern genetics?
A: Thomas Hunt Morgan and his team at NY’s Columbia U bred billions of fruit flies between 1910 and 1915, and established the basics of modern genetics. (p.13) That is, he discovered one fly with white eyes, which he then bred with his other red-eyed stock. He found that the number of fruit flies to emerge with white eyes was roughly consistent with the Mendelian theory of inherited traits. He also found that the white eyes occurred much more frequently in males than in females, leading him to theorize the relationship of inherited traits to gender. That is, in this case the white-eye trait was carried on the X chromosome, and with their XY pairing, males have only one "eye color instruction" (having only one X) so more had white eyes. Females have two X chromosomes, and since white was recessive and wouldn't show up if the other X was "red", both chromosomes would need to carry the white-eye instruction for the female to have white eyes. (p.39-40)
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