Drosophila Introduction

Question 1

Live stocks of flies are kept at what temperature?

Answer 1

15 to 25 degrees

Question 2

At 25 degrees how long is the fly life cycle?

Answer 2

10 days

Question 3

At 18 degrees how long is the fly life cycle?

Answer 3

21 days

Question 4

How long does an adult fly live for?

Answer 4

60 days

Question 5

Who discovered the white eyed fly and when?

Answer 5

Morgan discovered them in 1910

Question 6

What did sturtevant do in 1913?

Answer 6

Constructed the first genetic map where genes are arranged in a linear order

Question 7

List 6 technological/ methological advances which can be used on flies

Answer 7

1) P-element transformation
2) Enhancer trap
3) Gal4/UAS gene misexpression
4) FLP/FRT clonal mutant analysis
5) RNAi - ex vivo and in vivo
6) Omic technologies ie transcriptome

Question 8

How many genes do drosophila have?

Answer 8

17684

Question 9

How many offspring can a female and male fly produce in less than weeks?

Answer 9

> 200

Question 10

List some of the actions flies use during courtship

Answer 10

Orientation
Tapping
Wing vibration
Licking
Attempted copulation

Question 11

Drosophila courtship can be described as what?

Answer 11

Reproducible behaviour
Genetically encoded
They do not learn it

Question 12

Hub cells secrete which factor?

Answer 12

Unpaired

Question 13

What is sex peptide?

Answer 13

Sticks to the tails of sperm

Acts on the female brain to make them stop mating with other flies ie no longer receptive to the courtship dance

Question 14

Why is drosophila sperm so long?

Answer 14

To hold more sex peptide

Question 15

What is endo-reduplication?

Answer 15

replication of the nuclear genome in the absence of mitosis, which leads to elevated nuclear gene content and polyploidy

Question 16

What are nurse cells?

Answer 16

a cell which provides food, helps other cells and provides stability to their neighboring cells

Question 17

What are polytene chromosomes?

Answer 17

Large chromosomes with thousands of DNA strands

They are produced when repeated rounds of DNA replication without cell division forms a giant chromosome

Question 18

In polytene chromosomes where are the active genes?

Answer 18

In the interbands

Question 19

Polytene genes make it possible to see what?

Answer 19

It is possible to see some changes in gene active during metamorphis

Question 20

Where are maternal proteins and RNAs made?

Answer 20

In nurse cells

Question 21

What occurs between ring canals?

Answer 21

Cytoplasmic dumping

Question 22

Where is bicoid moved towards in the oocyte?

Answer 22

Towards the middle

Question 23

Where is Oskar mRNA moved towards in the oocyte?

Answer 23

Towards the outside

Question 24

What is the role of the vetelline membrane?

Answer 24

Hydrophobic, protects the egg from drying out

Question 25

Describe early fly division in respect to their nuclear divisions

Answer 25

1) After 70 mins a syncitium forms
2) After 90 mins the nuclei migrate
3) After 2 hours the syncitial blastoderm forms

Question 26

What is the role of Hh signalling in flies?

Answer 26

Patterning of segments and leg/wing discs

Question 27

What is the role of Wingless in flies?

Answer 27

Segment and Imaginal disc specification

Question 28

What is the role of delta and serrate in flies?

Answer 28

Specification of oocyte polarity

Question 29

What is the role of TGFa in flies?

Answer 29

Polarisation, eye development and wing vein differentiation

Question 30

What is the role of TGFb in flies?

Answer 30

Patterning of the DV and imaginal discs