3. A population of humans, isolated for centuries on an island in the Indian Oce

Question

3. A population of humans, isolated for centuries on an island in the Indian Ocean, exhibits the following phenotypes for pigmentation.

9,999 pigmented

1 albino

This form of albinism is caused by being homozygous recessive at a single locus.

a)    Assuming the population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, calculate the expected frequency of normal and albino alleles. How many individuals would you expect to be heterozygous?

b)   Go online and research. List three historically isolated populations of humans with unusually high frequencies of a phenotype which is uncommon elsewhere. Explain why this might be the case, for each example.

Explanation / Answer

Frequency of albino genotype = 1/ 10,000= q^2; Frequency of albino allele = q= 1/100

p= frequency of normal allele = 1- q= 1-0.01= 0.99

no. of heterozyegous individuals = 2pq= 2*0.99*0.01= 0.0198

b) Cerebellar ataxias

Alstrom syndrome and stone man syndrome are autosomal recessive rarest of the rare disorders

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