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Happy Or Hangry Families: Does Kinship Mediate Cooperation And Cannibalism In Drosophila Melanogaster Larvae?, Lucas Khodaei

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has a long history as a research model for studies on behaviour and group dynamics. When individuals are grouped in an environment and resources decrease, then they may behave co-operatively with one another or antagonistically compete. Hamilton’s Law states that if the benefit of helping a related individual out-weighs the cost to its direct fitness, then the individual’s indirect fitness will increase when they help their kin compared to helping an unrelated stranger. Yet it is unknown whether kinship mediates larval behaviour to encourage co-operation and/or lessen antagonistic behaviours between consanguineous individuals. In this thesis …

Effects Of Melatonin On Heartbeat And Possible Identification Of A Melatonin Receptor In Drosophila Melanogaster, Tricia L. Vankirk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chapter 1 of this manuscript is a literature review that serves as an introduction to the entire dissertation. Chapter 2 examines the effects of the melatonin injection on heart rate and rhythmicity in Drosophila melanogaster Canton-S (wild-type) pupae and pupae bearing a variety of heart mutations. Chapter 3 investigates further the possible mechanisms of melatonin’s ability to increase heart rhythmicity without significantly affecting heart rate. A melatonin antagonist, luzindole; a high-affinity melatonin agonist, 2-iodomelatonin and RNAi techniques are used to identify a possible melatonin receptor in Drosophila melanogaster.

An appendix contains a previously published manuscript detailing experiments performed at the …

Isolation And Characterization Of Autosomal Male Sterile Mutants In Drosophila Melanogaster, Lynn J. Romrell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In order to study the genetic control of spermiogenesis, recessive, male-sterile, autosomal mutants of Drosophila melanogaster were induced with ethyl methanesulfonate. A total of 31 mutants were recovered, 15 of which were located on the second chromosome and 16 on the third chromosome. Eight second- and 6 third-chromosome mutants demonstrating sterility in all homozygous males were used for further analysis.

Complementation tests showed that 2 of the 8 second chromosome mutants (and none of the 6 third chromosome mutants) were noncomplementing, indicating that two of the mutants produced were alleles of the same locus. Mapping of the second chromosome mutants …