Hardy Weinberg You are studying wolves on Isle Royale in Lake Superior. The wolv

Question

Hardy Weinberg

You are studying wolves on Isle Royale in Lake Superior. The wolves are all decedents of a single pair of wolves that crossed an ice bridge to the island during a particularly harsh winter in 1949. You notice that some of the wolves are turning up dead with what appears to be a debilitating spinal deformity. Genetic analysis reveals that a mutation, a single deleterious allele is responsible for the deformity. The allele is recessive and is usually not very prevalent in large wolf populations. You find that in the Isle Royale population, 83% of the wolves appear healthy and normal. What is the deleterious allele frequency in the Isle Royale wolf population? In a population of 12 Isle Royale wolves, how many present with the deformity and how many are carriers?

Explanation / Answer

H-W equilibrium,
p + q = 1
p2 + 2pq + q2 = 1

It is given that a recessive mutation is responsible for abnormal condition.
Frequency of normal healthy individuals, p2 + 2pq = 83% = 0.83
Frequency of q2 = 1 - 0.83 = 0.17
Frequency of q = 0.412

Frequency of p = 1 - 0.412 = 0.588
Frequency of p2 = 0.588 X 0.588 = 0.345
Frequency of heterozygotes, 2pq = 2 X 0.412 X 0.588 = 0.484

p2 + 2pq + q2 = 0.345 + 0.484 + 0.17 = 0.999 = 1

Population size = 12
Number of WT homozygous, p2 = 12 X 0.345 = 4.14
Number of carriers, 2pq = 12 X 0.484 = 5.808
Number of affected individuals, q2 = 12 X 0.17 = 2.04

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