How do you maintain Drosophila in a lab?

Most large fly laboratories maintain stocks that are not in everyday use at 18ºC on a 4-5-week generation cycle. Stocks should be kept as two to four independent cultures, and it may be convenient to keep these on alternating generations, 2 weeks apart. Stocks are normally maintained in vials.

Why are Drosophila used in genetic experiments?

75 per cent of the genes that cause disease in humans are also found in the fruit fly. Drosophila have a short, simple reproduction cycle. Fruit fly are small (3 mm long) but not so small that they can’t be seen without a microscope. This allows scientists to keep millions of them in the laboratory at a time.

How do you maintain Drosophila stocks?

Keeping Stocks Most stocks can be kept by dump-transfer of flies to fresh vials. However, it is important to avoid too overcrowded cultures, and only 20 or so flies should be transferred. It is good practice to inspect the flies on transfer, to ensure that both sexes are present and that their phenotype is as expected.

How do you maintain Drosophila?

Quick Start Information

1. Open the shipping container and inspect your cultures.
2. Remove the plastic caps, but leave the foam plugs in place.
3. Keep culture vials out of direct sunlight.
4. Vials should be maintained between 20 and 25° C (65 to 77° F).

What is the lifespan of Drosophila?

A typical, healthy and well-maintained outbred Drosophila population will have a median lifespan of approximately 70 days and maximum of approximately 90 days at 25 °C [11], [12]. At a more detailed level of physiological decline, numerous markers of ageing-related loss of function can be observed.

Why is Drosophila a good model system?

There are many technical advantages of using Drosophila over vertebrate models; they are easy and inexpensive to culture in laboratory conditions, have a much shorter life cycle, they produce large numbers of externally laid embryos and they can be genetically modified in numerous ways.

Why Drosophila is a good model?

Another advantage of Drosophila is that they are very small and thus, very easy to maintain. Due to their small size and minimal requirements, many Drosophila can be raised and tested within a small laboratory which does not have access time, space or funding. Genetic factors also make this fly an ideal model organism.

How often should you flip flies?

Flies should be transferred every 10 to 14 days. Students should maintain a backup culture of their flies and the instructor should maintain backup stock cultures of all fly strains. There are two basic ways to transfer flies when forming new cultures. One requires no anesthetizing but quick hands.

What is the life cycle of Drosophila?

The Drosophila life cycle is divided into four stages: embryo, larva, pupa, and adult. The time length of the stages is approximate and is shown in hours for embryos and days for larvae and pupae.

What is used to anesthetize flies?

FlyNap (triethylamine) is commonly used to anesthetize Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies.

How do you make Drosophila unconscious?

Use FlyNap® under a fume hood or in a well-ventilated area. Fruit flies can be anesthetized in an empty vial, in a Drosophila anesthetizer, or in their original culture vessel; however, anesthetizing flies in culture vials containing media risks drowning unconscious flies.

What is Drosophila melanogaster used for?

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster (D. melanogaster) has been widely used as a model organism in biological research, particularly in genetic and developmental studies, since the early 20 th century. In laboratories, the term drosophila is often used to refer to the species D. melanogaster.

Where can I find information on setting up a drosophilalaboratory?

General information on setting up a Drosophilalaboratory can be found in Culture of Drosophila: The Laboratory Setup. Previous SectionNext Section PROCEDURES Keeping Stocks

Can Drosophila melanogaster survive in cold climates?

Therefore, in colder climates Drosophila melanogaster cannot survive. In temperate regions where human activities have introduced Drosophila melanogaster, these flies seek shelter in colder winter months. Many times Drosophila can be found in fruit cellars, or other available man made structures with a large supply of food.

How long does it take for Drosophila to reproduce?

Reproduction in Drosophila is rapid. A single pair of flies can produce hundreds of offspring within a couple of weeks, and the offspring become sexually mature within one week (Lutz 1948).

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