I tested more wtb, this time with the switch mode protocol. Here are the results:

With the modified laser settings I was able to test 3 more wtb. Here are the results:

–> yaw torque

Before collecting the actual data I make sure that the flight simulator in the basement does its thing ;) Here are the test runs with wtb flies for different protocols:

—>> yaw torque

–>> switch mode

–>> habit formation

Below you can find the data I collected from the offspring flies:

-> offspring from trained parents

-> offspring from untrained parents

(I left out data from flies that showed negative preference during two training periods in a row)

Since the results I got after training the parental flies looked a bit odd on first sight I decided to take a closer view…

First I excluded some weird animals that either showed a larger preference for one side than avoidance or showed no avoidance two training periods in a row:

Next I compared the behavior of flies that showed avoidance but no learning with the behavior of the remaining flies:

-> Avoidance is almost the same but note the first test period!

Lastly I split the data according to male and female flies. Here is what I got:

-> Looks a bit like there is negative learning in the male flies however I don´t have enough data to be sure…

As an overview here are all the flies (except for the excluded ones) together again:

The offspring of my first experimental fly cohort finally hatched! Below you find a few first pre-tests I ran last week :)

First, here are the results of a quick test to see if the offspring shows a preference for the parentally trained side after the first training period:

After that I played around with the laser a little bit to find the learning threshhold. I set the laser on 2,6V but the results I got look a bit weird:

-> untrained wtb flies

-> offspring of trained wtb flies

I´m optimistic however there is still a lot of work to do…

Hello everyone!

Here is a brief overview of the topics I will be dealing with over the next few months:

This is the experiment by MD Ziv Williams I am trying to imitate ->

• Lamarckian inheritance following sensorimotor training and its neural basis in Drosophila – Williams, 2015

If you are further interested in transgenerational inheritance of behavioral traits and non synaptic memory storage check out these interesting links ->

• Can brain activity transmit transgenerationally? – Miska and Rechavi, 2021
• Is plasticity of synapses the mechanism of long-term memory storage? – Abraham, Jones and Glanzman, 2019

This week, for now, I will continue practicing to glue the flies and make a realistic estimate of the number of flies I need to get a significant result. Hopefully I can start trying out my experimental setup by the start of next week :)

Final Stats (flew more than 8min/out of):
– Wild type: 14/17 (82%)
– ElavGal4 x UAS-Ryr 28919: 3/13 (23%)
– ElavGal4 x UAS-Ryr 65885: 13/100 (13%)

Wild Types:

ElavGal4 x UASRyR 65885

Last week (1.-7.Apr 2019) we noted how many flies want to fly more than 8 min and here is the result (only the ones we noted):
– Wild type: 8/9 (88%)
– ElavGal4 x UAS-Ryr 28919: 3/12 (25%)
– ElavGal4 x UAS-Ryr 65885: 6/35 (17%)

Trace (Downsampled 5) Graphs of Recordings

Wild type:

ElavGal4 x UAS-Ryr 28919:

ElavGal4 x UAS-Ryr 65885:

New Findings:

Elav-Gal4 x UAS-SERCA 44581 flies => Lethal before adulthood! (in all 5 vials so far)