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Drosophila encounter ethanol in their natural environment because they prefer to lay their eggs on ethanol-containing food. Females knew certain amounts will be detrimental to them and their progeny, and when given the option of 0%, 5%, and 10% ethanol food, the females chose the 5% which was beneficial to them (Azanchi et al., 2013). A link between embryonic ethanol exposure and slowed development has already been established in Drosophila. When Drosophila embryos were exposed to greater than 5% ethanol, they showed a decrease in survival and development (Devineni and Heberlein, 2013). Pre-pregnancy ethanol exposure has been studied in mice and has shown similar effects. When exposed to ethanol prior to pregnancy, there was a decrease in liter size, embryo number, and pregnancy rate (Lee et al., 2020). However, maternal pre-exposure in Drosophila has not been studied. Here, we hypothesize that maternal pre-mating exposure to a 10% ethanol diet will decrease egg production and percentage of hatched eggs. 

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