Hypothetical population, - Essay Example

It must be kept in mind that such populations do not practically occur in nature because over a period of time, evolutionary factors affect the population in some way or the other. In the equation given above represents the frequency of the homozygous dominants, gives the frequency of homozygous recessive while 2pq represents the frequency of the heterozygotes. The frequency of the dominant and the recessive alleles may be calculated by square-rooting the homozygous dominant and recessive genotype frequencies.

Therefore gives the dominant allelic frequency while gives the recessive allelic frequency. However, the equation hold true for populations the comply with Hardy-Weinberg assumptions which means that in populations whose gene pool is disturbed by factors such as gene flow, genetic drift, mutations and in selectively bred populations, the equation will not be enough for proper estimation. In the given problem, it has been stated that 25 out of every 100 children are born with attached earlobes.

We already know that attached earlobe phenotype is an expression of recessive homozygous genotype. Assuming that all assumptions of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium are met, we may apply the law to estimate allelic and genotypic frequencies of the given population. Let us assume that UU is the dominant homozygous gene, Ua is the heterozygous genotype while uu is the homozygous recessive gene. As given in the problem, uu causes attached earlobe phenotype while both UU and Uu cause unattached earlobes.

In order to estimate the dominant and the recessive frequencies of the alleles we utilize Hardy Weinberg’s equation directly since we do not know the exact number of heterozygotes. To estimate allelic frequency of attached earlobes: Using the values of the frequencies of both the dominant and the recessive alleles that we obtained we can also calculate the frequency of the heterozygous genotype since the exact