Drosophila melanogaster is a very popular genetic model for understanding how traits are passed. They are very popular because they have a relatively short life cycle, which lasts about 9 days. This makes it easy to observe multiple generations in a short period of time. The fly’s life cycle consists of egg, larvae, pupa, and adult stages.
Thomas Hunt Morgan started a Fly lab in 1904, after he found a mutation in the eye color of a male fly. He crossed them and noticed that in the F1 generation, there were not any flies that had red eyes. He crossed them once more. The flies in the F2 generation contained male fly with white eyes in a 3:1 ratio. He preformed many different experiments involving mating the flies and observing the eye color.
Thomas Hunt Morgan started a Fly lab in 1904, after he found a mutation in the eye color of a male fly. He crossed them and noticed that in the F1 generation, there were not any flies that had red eyes. He crossed them once more. The flies in the F2 generation contained male fly with white eyes in a 3:1 ratio. He preformed many different experiments involving mating the flies and observing the eye color.