Impact of Lead Exposure on Wing Condition in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

Lead is a heavy metal that often contaminates the environment and human food. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of lead exposure on changes in the morphology of living things. Drosophila melanogaster was selected as a model organism while wing length and amount of wing damage were selected as objects of observation. By applying the pretest-posttest control group design, the flies were divided into four groups with different exposure conditions: 0, 100, 150 and 200 ppm. Lead exposure was given for two generations on fly culture medium. The analysis of covariance test results show that lead exposure has a significant effect on wing length. Furthermore, flies that were not exposed to lead were not damaged at all, while in the group exposed to lead there were always flies whose wings were not perfect. The Kruskal-Wallis H test showed that lead exposure had significant effect on the amount of wing imperfection. Based on the findings of this study, lead contamination for more than one generation needs to be considered more seriously because it has the potential to have a negative impact on the morphology of living things.