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Explore Fruit Fly Behavior

With your own live fruit flies, you can get curious about their behavior and do your very own scientific research
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Drosophila melanogaster, known as the fruit fly or vinegar fly, makes a great model organism for scientific research—including by high school students or in classroom settings. Read on to learn about the supplies and flies needed to set up your own research station. Observe the flies, get curious, and start asking your own research questions, then leave us a comment or share with @rockedu_ on twitter how it’s going. Good luck!

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Explore fruit flies in the classroom
Full Explore fruit flies in the classroom
Full Explore fruit flies in the classroom

Why flies?

Drosophila melanogaster is one of many species of vinegar fly, and is found around the world living in close proximity to humans. D. melanogaster flies have been used in labs for over a century, because they’re simple to care for, they don’t take up much space, they’re cheap, and they produce offspring rapidly. These characteristics also make flies ideal for classroom use. Maintaining fly crosses in the classroom looks very similar to what scientists do in the lab – just on a smaller scale. Think of fly bottles as a study system – a starting point from which many open-ended projects could develop.

What you'll need

Flies

Carolina Biological supply website: https://www.carolina.com  (a good source for supplies and even starter fly cultures)

Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center: bdsc.indiana.edu (researcher’s go-to source for transgenic flies)

Plastic bottle fitted with a funnel on top and half full of 70% ethanol inside. Orange tape labels the bottle

Fly Morgue and Vinegar Trap

Be prepared to dispose of dead flies and to capture escaped flies. The following materials are helpful to have on hand:

  • 70% ethanol
  • Apple cider vinegar
  • A bottle or jar, possibly with a funnel on top
  • Plastic wrap
  • Rubber bands
Erlenmeyer flask shaped commercial fly bottle filled with many flies, particularly gathering near the top of the jar

Fly Culture Bottles

You’ll want clear containers containing about 1.5 cm of food media and plugged with something porous (cotton is easiest).

Here are some container options:

  • Commercial plastic vials and/or bottles designed for fly culture to cover with
  • Reuse spice jars/baby food/takeout containers that have been thoroughly cleaned and sterilized

Here are some covering options:

  • Custom plugs here/here
  • Rip off bits of cotton wool (buy rolls). Even large cotton balls work! If your container is wide, you can cover it with cheesecloth or a similar porous fabric and secure it with a rubber band.

Fly Food

There are various options for fly food, choose the best fit for your situation:

Protocols for the homemade foods are available for download in the Save & Share menu.

Several flies anesthetized and resting on a surface are being pushed with a paintbrush

"Fly Pushing" Supplies

To make fly crosses for propagating your fly population and/or making unique genetic offspring, you will want the following:

  • A dissecting microscope
  • A simple paintbrush or other fine instrument for “pushing” the flies
  • CO2 (such as from mixing baking soda and vinegar in a squeeze bottle), FlyNap, or other fly anesthetic

Protocols for fly pushing and anesthesia are available for download in the Save & Share menu.

Full Explore fruit flies in the classroom

Created by

Anna Ryba Anna Ryba avatar

Anna wants to know how beautiful things work, so she studies fly brains. She loves showing people how fly brains (etc) really are beautiful.
Graduate student, Ruta Lab
The Rockefeller University
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