The, Hunting For Some Drosophila Melanogaster - 5018 Words

â€Å"Fly-ing Around with Gregor Mendel† (Thomas) â€Å"Hunting for some Drosophila Melanogaster† Figure 25. ï ¿ ¼ Introduction: â€Å"All living organism, no matter how primitive or complex, are the result of the workings of genetics. Living organisms are composed of lifeless molecules. These molecules conform to all of the physical and chemical laws that describe inanimate matter† (Knowles). As one of the first organisms used in genetic analysis, Drosophila melanogaster have a wide set of traits that make it advantageous in the aforementioned field. â€Å"Due primarily to the organism’s small size, short life cycle, high reproductive rate, having only four chromosomal pairs, and the ability to be observed under low magnification (Ashburner). All organisms use common genetic systems. Understanding the processes such as transcription and replication in fruit flies helps in understanding these processes in other eukaryotes, including, but not limited to humans (Pierce). Mendel proposed three fundamental laws for the pattern of genetic inheritance through his various experiments with flowering pea plants (Mendel) (see below): Fundamental theory of heredity: Inheritance involves the passing of discrete units of inheritance, or genes, from parents to offspring (Campbell et al. 262-264). Principle of segregation: During reproduction, the inherited factors (now called alleles) that determine traits are separated into reproductive cells by a process called meiosis and randomly reunite during