Imagine a large population of salamanders that is quickly re

Imagine a large population of salamanders that is quickly reduced to only 5 individuals (= population “bottleneck”). What proportion of the original population\'s genetic variability (quantitative) is the group of 5 salamanders likely to have? For one locus we know that the following allele frequencies exist for alleles numbered 1-7: allele no. 1, p1 = 0.90; allele no. 2, p2 = 0.04; allele no. 3, p3 = 0.02; allele no. 4, p4 = 0.01; allele no. 5, p5 = 0.01; allele no. 6, p6 = 0.01, and allele no. 7, p7 = 0.01. Based on these data, what is the expected number of alleles that will remain after the population crash? ***PLEASE SHOW STEP BY STEP**

Solution

Ans: G. H. Hardy and Wilhelm Weinberg independently described a basic principle of population genetics, which is now named the Hardy-Weinberg equation. The equation is an expression of the principle known as Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, which states that the amount of genetic variation in a population will remain constant from one generation to the next in the absence of disturbing factors.

The Hardy-Weinberg equation is expressed as:

p² + 2pq + q² = 1

where p is the frequency of the \"A\" allele and q is the frequency of the \"a\" allele in the population. In the equation, p² represents the frequency of the homozygous genotype AA, q² represents the frequency of the homozygous genotype aa, and 2pq represents the frequency of the heterozygous genotype Aa.

The sum of allele frequecy will be 1. Therefore, Allele(0.09+0.04+0.02+0.01+0.01+0.01+0.01)= 1.00, and the remaining population of salamander after crash is 5. So, The expected number of allele that will remain after population crash is = 1.00/5= 0.2