Suppose we have “GeneA.” The resulting polypeptide of “Gene A”influences the har

Question

Suppose we have “GeneA.” The resulting polypeptide of “Gene A”influences the hardness of claws in a species of pocketgopher. These burrowing mammals use their claws to digthrough the soil. Soft claws are useless for digging andgophers with soft claws soon die.

There are two alleles for“Gene A,” A and a. Gophers homozygous dominant(AA) and heterozygous (Aa) for this gene have hard claws and digjust fine. Gophers homozygous recessive (aa) have soft clawsand die.

Use what you know aboutMendelian genetics to predict the frequency of the threeaforementioned genotypes in a population in Hardy-Weinbergequilibrium where the allele frequencies are A = 0.5 and a =0.5.

Explanation / Answer

Let p be the frequency of allele A while q be thefrequency of allele a Assume that the population is in equilibrium, then we will havefreq(AA) = p2 forthe AA homozygotes in the population,freq(aa) = q2 forthe aa homozygotes, andfreq(Aa) = 2pq for theheterozygotes p2 = 0.52 = 0.25 2pq = 2 x 0.5 x 0.5 = 0.5 q2 = 0.52 = 0.25 So, the frequency of AA is 0.25, Aa is 0.5 and aa is 0.25. Hope this helps!

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse S
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.