Can female Drosophila melanogaster lay egg without males? I maintain our lab stock but find a line that seems to have all females (or all males). In the vial, I see some eggs laid, but the flies should have been flipped 2 weeks, ago but I don't see any eggs hatching or become larva.
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Yes, I regularly have to collect female virgins (12500 of them in the last week). They will lay eggs especially when there is extra yeast available. It is actually a good way to check virginity - put some extra yeast grains in the vial when you collect them, leave them for a few days and then check for larvae, if they are not virgins there will be eggs and larvae, if they are virgins there will only be eggs! |
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Very old females (such as those in vials that have not been flipped for a long time) will often lay unfertilized eggs in the absence of males. This happens to me occasionally when I am collecting virgins and then forget about them for a while. |
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