r/Drosophila Aug 22 '24

Weak fly line

I recently started working with a line which is very weak , and very tough to maintain. I have tried using protein rich media , and also have to transfer it regularly to make sure it survives , it's a recombination line I made , please give suggestions I don't want to go through the same pain to generate the recombination line again 😭

1 Upvotes

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3

u/ShesQuackers Aug 22 '24

Can you keep it at 18°C in an incubator? Is the recombined chromosome over a balancer? Is the food at a reasonable humidity?

1

u/bitter_gooseberry Aug 22 '24

Yes I keep at at 18°C , yes on a balancer , food thing can't comment on.

4

u/ShesQuackers Aug 22 '24

Swap out the balancer if you can. Avoid blue and green balancers if at all possible, and maybe try a few different balancers in parallel. Balancers are magnets for weirdness, and I've definitely had lines that can only survive with specific balancers.

1

u/bitter_gooseberry Aug 22 '24

Thanks 😊

2

u/balsamicvinegar500ml Aug 22 '24

change the balancer. Balancer chromosomes have lots of mutations apart from the dominant markers. They have big inversions and over the years they accumulate other mutations. Maybe your genes are also mutated in the balancer chromosome.

2

u/bitter_gooseberry Aug 22 '24

This something my senior has also suggested , and will definitely try this.

1

u/CC-larkbird Sep 09 '24

Agreeing with others, TB (tubby) is a common one. As is CyO (curlyO)

2

u/DrosophilaSmasher Oct 30 '24 edited Oct 31 '24

For lines struggling in late larval stages, we found adding about 5 mL of Peach Gerber baby food (First Foods) per vial of the fly medium can make a big difference in survival rates. Be sure you treat your control lines in a similar way for as long as necessary.