The study of larva and adult behavior of drosophila melanogaster: Do strains affect behavior?

Abstract

Drosophila's behavioral studies can investigate human disease as well as various questions about behavioral neuroscience. This study aimed to examine the effect of strains on various Drosophila behavior parameters. The strains used were wildtype, ebony body, white eyes, and vestigial wings. Larval Crawling Assay, Pupa Position Assay, and Adult Climbing Assay were used as procedures for data collection. The data collected consisted of 1a) larval total distance, 1b) larval contraction number, 1c) distance per contraction, 1d) larval speed, 2) pupa position, 3a) the number of adults that successfully climbed, and 3b) climbing time. The data were analyzed using a one-way univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results showed that differences in strains could cause differences in Drosophila behavior, especially during the imago phase. The use of wild-type strains is recommended for use as a behavioral study on Drosophila, given the differences in wildtype and mutant behavior recorded in this study. This research is expected to be the basis of Drosophila's behavior study, which is still rarely conducted in Indonesia.