The effect of temperature on the maturing time of temperaturesensitive fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) mutants

Abstract

Drosophila melanogaster is a small fly species commonly known as a ‘fruit fly’. Temperature-sensitive mutants of D. melanogaster, with the mutation shibire become paralyzed at temperatures exceeding 29°C. This mutation affects the nervous system of the flies by reducing synaptic vesicles. Both wild type and mutant strains were treated at: 17°C, 25°C, and 29°C to determine if the mutation causes a significant difference in maturation time. It is important to know whether the maturation time of shibire mutants are different from the wild type when using shibire to manipulate other genes. We incubated vials containing D. melanogaster larvae in cornmeal medium at the three treatment temperatures. We examined the time (in days) that it took for the larvae to molt into pupae and for the pupae to become adults. The results indicated that the maturing times between mutant and wild type strains were not significantly different. Also, we observed that the adult mutants did not become paralyzed at the anticipated temperature. This revealed that the sample pool did not have all intended Cha- Gal 4/UAS-shi mutants to begin with. Consequently, we do not support our alternate hypothesis that the maturing time for the wild type is shorter than the mutants as temperature increases.