Teaching and learning genetics with Drosophila. 2. Mutant phenotypes of Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

The first part of this series [1] looked at why the fruitfly Drosophila is such an excellent eukaryotic model system for genetic studies. Of the many important attributes of this fly, which have earned it the title 'Cinderella of Genetics', the availability of innumerable number of mutant genetic stocks of D. melanogaster is an extremely useful and important one. These different mutants are of immense help to study various aspects of inheritance, as we shall see in this and subsequent articles.