The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster was a perfect choice for Thomas Hunt Morgan’s genetics experiments.
1. Drosophila melanogaster is a small, easily-maintained fruit fly that is ideal for genetic studies.
2. Drosophila have a short life cycle, which makes them ideal for genetic studies because it allows for faster results and easier observation of the effects of mutations over time.
3. Drosophila are sexually reproducing organisms, which allows for the study of inheritance patterns—how traits are passed from one generation to the next.
4. Drosophila have visible characteristics (or phenotypes) that can be easily observed.
5. Drosophila have large numbers of offspring, which increases the chances of observing rare mutations as well as any dominant or recessive genetic combinations in different strains of flies during crosses between two different strains of flies with known mutations in their genotype (genetic makeup).
6. Drosophila can be mutant strains that carry multiple mutations, which is useful for studies of epistasis—the interaction between genes affecting one another’s activity in order to determine an outcome
