Question

Do non virgin female drosophila allow mating?

Will non-virgin males attempt to mate?

Will males compete for virgin females?

Answer 1

Do non virgin female drosophila allow mating? Yes. Drosophila females can mate up to six times in their lifetime.

Will non-virgin males attempt to mate? Yes. Males will attempt to mate as often as possible.

Will males compete for virgin females? No. Males will mate indistinctively.

The use of virgin flies in genetics experiments is mostly due to keeping the genetic pool "even" for accurate observations. A virgin female has not mated with any males, so you can be sure that, once you cross them, the phenotypes and genotypes will be correct. If the fly is not a virgin, meaning it has mated with several males, there will be a wide variety of genotypes in that fly. What I mean is that, of you want to see the heredity of Gene A (GenA) across several generations, you can not use non-virgin females, because if they have mated with several males, that can affect the heritability of GenA, since you have no way of knowing which of the any males passed on the genes. If the fly is a virgin, you can guarantee that it only mated with the male you want her to mate, and you cn make accurate observations about heredity.