Fly Development

 

The life cycle of Drosophila

Drosophila have what could be considered two different lives. The first life begins with a fertilized embryo that then develops into a larvae; the second life begins when the larvae pupates and transforms into the adult fly. The most remarkable thing about this system is that the fly has an average life span of about 14 days, which means all of these transformations occurs very quickly. An unfertilized egg is stored in the ovaries, and continues to mature as it nears the distal end of the ovary. Once matured, if the egg is fertilized, then the egg is released from the mother and it develops further outside of the mother (oviparous). The egg undergoes gastrulation at 180 minutes. At 24 hours post fertilization, the egg hatches, at which point the embryo becomes a larvae. The larvae then continues to grow in size until 5 days post fertilization, at which point the larvae pupates. While the pupa is transforming into an adult, the pupa tissue is completely broken down and the adult tissue is completely made of imaginal discs. These discs will then proliferate rapidly to form the tissue of the adult fly. The development from egg to adult takes about 7 days when raised at 28 degrees Celsius. 

Fate of imaginal disc inside pupae (Aldaz and Escudero)

Adult flies can then live about 43 more days after development. During this time, females can lay several hundred eggs during their life span.

To read more about the development of the fly, click here to view the literature used to make this site