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The Common Fruit Fly By Gregor Mendel

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Abstract:
The basis of genetics were established by Gregor Mendel, an Augustinian monk in the mid to late 1800’s. Through the observations from cross-pollinating pea plants, Mendel was able to discover the basic laws of inheritance. Years later genetics would be studied on a multitude of organisms, some more than others. Drosophila melanogaster or the common fruit fly has been studied in depth for its great advantages, such as size, reproduction rate, ease of care and inexpensive room and board.
In this experiment we tested to see what the offspring of an unknown cross of an F1 generation would produce. After observing the F2 generation and recording the data we found some of the Drosophila showed mutations, two in particular. The mutations were the apterus wings, and sepia eyes. After collecting our data through observation, a Chi-test was conducted resulting in a Chi-value of 5.1 and a p-value of .2. Since the p-value was greater than 0.05, there was no significant change in the data. This proved that the Drosophila flies still followed the Mendelian genetics of a 9:3:3:1 ratio.

Introduction: The basis of genetics were established by Gregor Mendel, an Augustinian monk in the mid to late 1800’s. Through the observations from cross-pollinating pea plants, Mendel was able to discover the basic laws of inheritance. Mendel’s experiment was to cross pollinate pea plants and observe how traits were passed on. He started his experiment with two true breeding pods,

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