2- Calculating Genetic Diversity

• Genetic biodiversity


  Also called the gene pool
• All individuals of a species have the same genes
• Monomorphic genes


  Genes that only have one version
• Polymorphic genes


  Genes that have different versions called alleles
• Polymorphic genes


  • Coat color genes in dogs
• Pure breed dogs


  • Have a relatively low level of genetic biodiversity
  • Breeding takes place within a relatively small population
  • Number of different alleles is relatively small
  • No new alleles are allowed to enter the breed
• Inbreeding in pure breed dogs

  Can lead to genetically linked health problems
• Mongrel dogs


  • Have a wide range of alleles and a high level of genetic biodiversity
  • Breeding is essentially random
• Polymorphic Gene loci


  Gene positions on a chromosome that have more than one allele
• Monomorphic Gene loci


  Gene positions on a chromosome that only have one allele
• Calculating proportion of polymorphic Gene loci

  Number of polymorphic Gene loci / Total number of loci
• Example calculation


  • 80 Gene loci analyzed, 4 were polymorphic

  Proportion = 4 / 80 = 0.05 = 5%