This question deals with common misconceptions about what Hardy-Weinberg equilib

Question

This question deals with common misconceptions about what Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) is. In peas, flower color is controlled by a single Mendelian locus with two alleles, R and r. RR plants have red flowers, rr have white flowers, and Rr have pink flowers. Let p equal frequency of R alleles and q equal frequency of r alleles. In the pea population under study, p = 0.50 and q = 0.50. You count the plants for their flower colors and find the following numbers: Red: 40 Pink: 20 White: 40 Total = 100 Which one of the following statements is true:

a. We know that the pea population is in HWE at this locus because p + q = 1.

b. We know that the pea population is in HWE at this locus because p and q are equal.

c. We know that the pea population is in HWE at this locus because the homozygotes are in equal numbers.

d. We know that the pea population is in HWE because when we plug p and q into the HWE formula, we find that p2 + 2pq + q2 = 0.25 + 0.50 + 0.25 = 1.

e. None of the above.

Explanation / Answer

a. We know that the pea population is in HWE at this locus because p + q = 1.

Hardy and Weinberg mathematically proved that in a population, all dominant and recessive alleles comprise all alleles for that gene.

This was mathematically represented as p+ q = 1.0

Where,

p = frequency of dominant alleles

q = frequency of recessive alleles.

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