Association for Biology Laboratory Education

Inheritance of Aldehyde Oxidase in Drosophila melanogaster
 

Judith G. Morgan and Victoria Finnerty

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 1991, Volume 12

Abstract

This exercise illustrates to introductory level students that Mendelian patterns of inheritance can be studied using biochemical assays as an indication of biochemical phenotypes. Students investigate the pattern of inheritance of aldehyde oxidase in different strains of Drosophila. Using this information, they study progeny from a mating between unknown parents, develop hypotheses about the parental genotypes, and investigate the results using chi-square test. In addition, students determine the location of the gene by determining the map distance between it and an eye color gene whose location on the same chromosome is already known.

Keywords:  Drosophila, inheritance, enzyme spot test, aldehyde oxidase

Southwest Missouri State University (1990)