Table 3. Observation of Fly Behavior in Altered Gravity7 Ethanol Ground 1 Flight 2 Exposure 3 Crawl on the sides of vials, negative Crawl on sides of vials, Zero Time geotaxis4 negative geotaxis More time on bottom of vial, some Some flies begin to drop off 50% ST50 5 incapacitated, random twitching, sides of vial difficulty climbing above the base ½ intoxicated, nearly all crawling on or Floaters and spinners in near bottom, rapid twitching and wing microgravity, free fall in ST50 flutters hypergravity, some hooked to bottom6 All on bottom, little crawling, and All floaters, spinners, or 2 times ST50 twitching clinging to bottom 1 Flies exposed to Ethanol on the Ground 2 Flies exposed to Ethanol on the Zero-G Flight 3 Exposed to times are approximations 500μl Ethanol; 4 Crawling up to the top of the vial 5 ST50 is the standard time taken for 50% of a vial of flies to pass out; 50% ST50 is an estimate of approximately half that time 6 Floaters are totally passed out, spinners have vibrating wings which cause them to wildly spin in microgravity; floaters free fall to the bottom of the vial in hypergravity; some flies stay hooked to the bottom of the vial with their claws 7Behaviors were similar for wild type and adh flies DISCUSSION Our results indicate that enzyme activity is affected in altered gravity. Both the wild type and adh strain metabolized significantly more ethanol on the flight than on the ground. Comparisons of adh and wild type patterns of metabolism clearly show differences which indicates effects on the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme. However, the fact that metabolism in the adh strain was greatly impacted by altered gravity indicates that other genes are involved, and suggests that altered gravity may affect many or all enzymes. This experiment had a large sample size with minimal variation; however, we would like to repeat this experiment to see if the results are consistent. We would also like to test other mutants that affect alcohol metabolism to Drosophila see if the affect varies. The purpose of the behavior experiments was to see if flies exposed to ethanol in altered gravity would have altered sensitivity to ethanol. The ST50 test was utilized as it is a simple assay on the
Table 3. Observation of Fly Behavior in Altered Gravity7 Ethanol Exposure 3 Ground 1 Flight 2 Zero Time Crawl on the sides of vials, negative geotaxis4 Crawl on sides of vials, negative geotaxis 50% ST50 5 More time on bottom of vial, some incapacitated, random twitching, difficulty climbing above the base Some flies begin to drop off sides of vial ST50 ½ intoxicated, nearly all crawling on or near bottom, rapid twitching and wing flutters Floaters and spinners in microgravity, free fall in hypergravity, some hooked to bottom6 2 times ST50 All on bottom, little crawling, and twitching All floaters, spinners, or clinging to bottom 1 Flies exposed to Ethanol on the Ground 2 Flies exposed to Ethanol on the Zero-G Flight 3 Exposed to 500μl Ethanol; times are approximations 4 Crawling up to the top of the vial 5 ST50 is the standard time taken for 50% of a vial of flies to pass out; 50% ST50 is an estimate of approximately half that time 6 Floaters are totally passed out, spinners have vibrating wings which cause them to wildly spin in microgravity; floaters free fall to the bottom of the vial in hypergravity; some flies stay hooked to the bottom of the vial with their claws 7Behaviors were similar for wild type and adh flies DISCUSSION Our results indicate that enzyme activity is affected in altered gravity. Both the wild type and adh strain metabolized significantly more ethanol on the flight than on the ground. Comparisons of adh and wild type patterns of metabolism clearly show differences which indicates effects on the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme. However, the fact that metabolism in the adh strain was greatly impacted by altered gravity indicates that other genes are involved, and suggests that altered gravity may affect many or all enzymes. This experiment had a large sample size with minimal variation; however, we would like to repeat this experiment to see if the results are consistent. We would also like to test other Drosophila mutants that affect alcohol metabolism to see if the affect varies. The purpose of the behavior experiments was to see if flies exposed to ethanol in altered gravity would have altered sensitivity to ethanol. The ST50 test was utilized as it is a simple assay on the
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