Getting to Know FlyLab: Performing Monohybrid, Dihybrid, and Trihybrid Crosses
 

1. To begin a cross, you must first select the phenotypes of the flies that you want to mate. Follow the directions below to create a monohybrid cross between a wild-type female fly and a male fly with sepia eyes.
1. To design a wild-type female fly, click on the Design button below the gray image of the female fly. Click on the button for the Body Color trait on the left side of the Design view. The small button next to the words "Wild Type" should already be selected (bolded). To choose this phenotype, click the Select button below the image of the fly at the bottom of the design screen. Remember that this fly represents a true-breeding parent that is homozygous for wild type alleles. The selected female fly now appears on the screen with a "+" symbol indicating the wild-type phenotype.
2. To design a male fly with sepia eyes, click on the Design button below the gray image of the male fly. Click on the button for the Eye Color trait on the left side of the Design view. Click on the small button next to the word "Sepia." Note how eye color in this fly compares with the wild-type eye color. Choose this fly by clicking on the Select button below the image of the fly at the bottom of the Design screen. The male fly now appears on the screen with the abbreviation "SE" indicating the sepia eye mutation. This fly is homozygous for the sepia eye allele. These two flies represent the parental generation (P generation) for your cross.
3. Based on what you know about the principles of Mendelian genetics, predict the phenotypic ratio that you would expect to see for the F1 offspring of this cross and describe the phenotype of each fly.
4. To select the number of offspring to create by this mating, click on the popup menu on the left side of the screen and select 10,000 flies. To mate the two flies, click on the Mate button between the two flies. Note the fly images that appear in the box at the bottom of the screen. Scroll up to see the parent flies and down to see the wild type offspring. These offspring are the F1 generation. Are the phenotypes of the F1 offspring what you would have predicted for this cross? Why or why not? Note: The actual number of F1 offspring created by FlyLab does not exactly equal the 10,000 offspring that you selected. This difference represents the experimental error introduced by FlyLab.
5. To save the results of this cross to your lab notes, click on the Analyze Results button on the lower left side of the screen. A panel will appear with a summary of the results for this cross. Note the number of offspring, proportion of each phenotype and observed ratios for each observed phenotype. Click the Add Data to Notebook button at the upper right of the panel. To comment on these results in your lab notes, move the cursor to the space above the dashed line in the notebook window and type a comment such as, "These are the results of the F1 generation for my first monohybrid cross." Click the Return to Lab button in the upper left corner of the Results screen to close this panel and return to the Mate screen.
6. To set up a cross between two F1 offspring to produce an F2 generation, be sure that you are looking at the two wild-type offspring flies in the box at the bottom of the screen. If not, scroll to the bottom of this box by using the down arrow until the word "Offspring" appears in the center of the box. Click the Select button below the female wild-type fly image, then click the Select button below the male wild-type fly image. Note that the two F1 offspring that you just selected appear at the top of the screen as the flies chosen for your new mating. Click on the Mate button between the two flies. The F2 generation of flies now appears in the box at the bottom of the screen. Use the scroll buttons to view the phenotypes of the F2 offspring.
7. Examine the phenotypes of the offspring produced and save the results to your lab notes by clicking on the Analyze Results button on the lower left side of the Mate view. Note observed phenotypic ratios of the F2 offspring. Click the Add Data to Notebook button at the upper right of the panel. Close the Notebook window before proceeding.
8. To validate or reject a hypothesis, perform a chi-square analysis as follows. Click on the Chi-Square Analysis button on the upper right tab. To ignore the effects of sex on this cross, click on the Ignore Sex button. Enter a predicted ratio for a hypothesis that you want to test. For example, if you want to test a 4:1 ratio, enter a 4 in the first box under the Hypothesis column and enter a 1 in the second box. To evaluate the effects of sex on this cross, simply type a 4 in each of the first two boxes, and type a 1 in each of the last two boxes. Click the Test Hypothesis button at the bottom of the panel. A new panel will appear with the results of the chi-square analysis. Note the level of significance displayed with a recommendation to either reject or not reject your hypothesis. What was the recommendation from the chi-square test? Was your ratio accepted or rejected? Click the Add Data to Notebook button to add the results of this test to your lab notes.
9. To examine and edit your lab notes, scroll through the Notebook window. Click the cursor below the recommendation line and type the following: "These are my results for the F2 generation of my first monohybrid cross. These data do not seem to follow a 4:1 ratio." To print your lab notes, you can export this data table as an html file by clicking on the Export button. In a few seconds, a new browser window should appear with a copy of your lab notes. You can now save this file to disk and/or print a copy of your lab notes. Close the panel when you are done printing, then close the Notebook window.
10. Click on the Test a New Hypothesis button to repeat the chi-square analysis. Use a new ratio until you discover a ratio that will not be rejected. What did you discover to be the correct phenotypic ratio for this experiment? Was this what you expected? Why or why not? What do the results of this experiment tell you about the dominance or recessiveness of the sepia allele for eye color? After printing your Results in your notebook, click on the Return to Lab button.
2. Click on the New Mate button in the lower left corner of the screen to clear your previous cross. Following the procedure described above, perform monohybrid crosses for at least three other characters. For each cross, develop a hypothesis to predict the results of the phenotypes in the F1 and F2 generations and perform chi-square analysis to compare your observed ratios with your predicted ratios. For each individual cross, try varying the number of offspring produced. What effect, if any, does this have on the results produced and your ability to perform chi-square analysis on these data? If any of your crosses do not follow an expected pattern of inheritance, provide possible reasons to account for your results.
3. Once you are comfortable with using FlyLab to perform a monohybrid cross, design a dihybrid cross by selecting and crossing an ebony body female fly with a male fly that has the vestigial mutation for wing size. Develop a hypothesis to predict the results of this cross and describe each phenotype that you would expect to see in both the F1 and F2 generations of this cross. Analyze the results of each cross by chi-square analysis and save your data to your lab notes as previously described in the assignments for a monohybrid cross. Describe the phenotypes that you observed in both the F1 and F2 generations of this cross. How does the observed phenotypic ratio for the F2 generation compare with your predicted phenotypic ratio? Explain your answer.
4. Use FlyLab to perform a trihybrid cross by designing and crossing a wild-type female fly and a male fly with dumpy wing shape, ebony body color, and shaven bristles. Develop a hypothesis to predict the results of this cross and describe each phenotype that you would expect to see in the F2 generation of this cross. Perform your cross and evaluate your hypothesis by chi-square analysis. What was the trihybrid phenotypic ratio produced for the F2 generation?

 

 
 



For questions, comments and additional information, contact  mfhicks@pstcc.edu
Last Updated: July 8, 2001
Site map: Margaret F. Hicks Home - Biology 2120 - Notes - Flylab Instructions


 
 











Search | Home Page | P.S. Web | Webmaster
 
 

Pellissippi State Technical Community College
2000©