1. Amir Blocker & Olga Bernal Genetic Control of Organ Size in Fruit Flies Team C

2. Objectives (I) To observe field flies and lab flies. (II) To understand how a tumor suppressor gene regulates fly wing size. Hypothesis (I) Field flies are the same as lab flies. (II) Tumor suppressor gene does not affect fly wing size.

3. Background Thomas Hunt Morgan (Nobel Laureate,1933)  What are fruit flies?  Fruit flies have been used in genetics study for over 100 years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drosophila_melanogaster Cancer Neurological disease (Parkinson's, autism) Immune disease Rhythm, vision, olfaction, audition, learning/memory, courtship, pain Other processes, such as longevity  Application of fruit fly in human disease study:

4. Life Cycle of fruit flies  Short generation time of 10-14 days (compared to 25 years for human) Background

5. Preparing the bottle: Cut a small U opening 2 inch Do Not Disturb SEECoS Program Experiment in Progress Label Materials and Methods – (I)  Field Fly Trap Experiment

6. Preparing the bait: Bananas are mashed and added into the bottle. Add some yeast to promote fermentation. Preparing the bottle: Cut a small U opening  Field Fly Trap Experiment Materials and Methods – (I)

7.  Field Fly Trap Experiment Preparing the bait: Bananas are mashed and added into the bottle. Add some yeast to promote fermentation. Preparing the bottle: Cut a small U opening Deploying the trap: Attach the trap to a tree limb Checking the trap: fly number, weather condition, bait condition Collecting flies from the trap Observing the flies - Use dissecting microscope - Body color, eye color, head shape, size, gender Materials and Methods – (I)

8. C5-Gal4 (♀) UAS-mats (♂) X C5-Gal4 (♀) Wild type flies (♂) X Experimental Crosses: Control Crosses: female (♀) Male (♂) DDifferentiating male and female flies under dissecting microscope (with 100% accuracy) SSetting up crosses  Examination of tumor suppressor gene function in wing size Note: The tumor suppressor gene, mats, is going to be expressed in fly wings of the offspring. Materials and Methods – (II)

9. Dissect fly wings using forceps Mount fly wings on glass slides X Collect wing images using SPOT Camera and Software Measure wing sizes using Image J software Data analysis using Microsoft Excel Materials and Methods – (II)

10. Results – (I)  Field Fly Trap Experiment (2 weeks later) front view back view

11. Results – (I)  Field Fly Trap Experiment lab fly field fly  No difference was seen between the lab and field flies.

12. C5-Gal4 (control)C5-mats Results – (II)  Examination of tumor suppressor gene function in wing size AB A’ B’ * A, A’: wild type control flies B, B’: flies carrying tumor suppressor gene (mats) (n>20)

13. Conclusion (I) Field flies we trapped belong to the same species of lab flies. (II) Tumor suppressor gene reduces the wing size. Supporting hypothesis (I): -- Field flies are the same as lab flies. Denying the hypothesis (II): -- Tumor suppressor gene does not affect fly wing size.

14. Future Research Use different baits to see whether other species of flies will be attracted. Examine the function of another kind of tumor suppressor gene. Examine the function of tumor suppressor gene in different tissues other than wings, such as eyes, heads, legs, etc.

15. Instructor: Mr. Eric Speight Acknowledgement Faculty: Dr. Zhi-Chun Lai Mentor: Ms. Xin Ye Dr. Jackie Bortiatynski Ms. Jody Markley All UBMS Staff Mr. Derek Ja mes