There's a Fly in My Ginseng!

Overview

Objectives/Goals The purpose of this experiment was to determine if E. senticosus (Ginseng) causes mutagenic effects on D. melanogaster (fruit flies). A lethal mutation will result in the absence of any red eye males in the Experimental F2 generation. Methods/Materials A population of over 100 Wild Type male fruit flies were administered an LD(50)dose [0.0216g] of Ginseng via food medium. They were then bred with virgin Muller-5 female fruit flies to producce an F1 generation. The F1 were allowed to breed again and produce an F2 generation. The F2 generation were sorted according to gender and specified phenotypes. A phenotipic ratio was calculated. Results Nineteen percent of the Experimental F2 Group was White eye male and 25% was red eye male. The resulting F2 generation ratio of 1:1:1:1 indicated that a lethal mutaton did not exist. Conclusions/Discussion E. senticosus does not induce mutagenic effects on D. melanogaster, therefore our hypothesis was incorrect. However, after thoroughly analyzing our results, and closely comparing the eyes of the red eye Wild Type males in the Experimental Group to the red eye Wild Type males of the Control Group, there might have been a slight mutation. The color of the Experimental red eye Wild Type male flies' eye's have a slight yellowish tint. The difference between the two colors is miniscule, but enough to give us an incentive to continue on with this project.

Competition history

• CSEF 2003 Pharmacology/ Toxicology · Entry J1406

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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