POPULATION GENETICS

• WHAT IS A POPULATION?

  group of organisms of the same species that can interbreed, that occupies a particular space at the same time
• WHAT IS A CHARACTERISTIC OF A POPULATION?

  dynamic
• WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR A POPULATION TO BE DYNAMIC?

  can expand/ contract due to changes in birth rate, death rate or migration
• WHAT IS A GENE POOL?

  total number of alleles in a particular population at a specific time
• WHAT IS ALLELIC FREQUENCY?

  number of times an allele occurs within a gene pool
• WHAT PRINCIPLE IS USED TO CALCULATE THE FREQUENCIES OF ALLELES?

  Hardy-Weinberg Principle
• WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE HARDY-WEINBERG PRINCIPLE?

  used to calculate frequencies of alleles of a particular gene in a population, therefore it measures genetic diversity
• WHAT ASSUMPTIONS ARE MADE IN THE HARDY-WEINBERG PRINCIPLE?

  • no mutations, migration or genetic drift occurred
  • very large population
  • random mating
  • no selective advantage for any genotype
• WHAT ARE THE TWO EQUATIONS IN THE HARDY-WEINBERG PRINCIPLE?

  p + q = 1

  p^2 + 2pq + q^2 = 1
• WHAT DOES p STAND FOR IN HARDY-WEINBERG PRINCIPLE?

  probability of allele A
• WHAT DOES THE q STAND FOR IN THE HARDY-WEINBERG PRINCIPLE?

  probability of allele a
• WHAT DOES THE p^2 STAND FOR IN THE HARDY-WEINBERG PRINCIPLE?

  probability of genotype AA
• WHAT DOES q^2 STAND FOR IN HARDY-WEINBERG PRINCIPLE?

  probability of genotype aa
• WHAT DOES THE 2pq STAND FOR IN THE HARDY-WEINBERG PRINCIPLE?

  probability of genotype Aa (Aa or aA)
• WHAT IS AN ALLELE?

  one of a number of alternative forms of a gene