Mutation frequencies of Drosophila melanogaster reared in glass and plastic vials

The mutation frequency of the sex-linked recessive lethal assay resulting from the examination of 9032 tests of Drosophila melanogaster reared in plastic vials (0.198%) was approximately twice that of Drosophila melanogaster reared in glass vials (0.085%) after examination of 9365 tests. This difference was found to be significant (P less than 0.05). This significant increase in the mutation frequency may be due to styrene which is one of the components of the plastic vials. Also, the frequency of failure was greater when using plastic vials (1.19%) compared to glass vials (0.71%). In the following study we examined D. melanogaster SLRL mutation frequencies and failure rates when using glass and plastic vials. Our results showed a doubling in the SLRL mutation rate.