Discussion:
Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium for Populations
A) Address the following Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium problem.
i) A population of iguanas on the Galapagos Islands has 20 individuals with webbed feet and 180 individuals with the dominant trait of non-webbed feet. What are the frequencies of webbed feet and non-webbed feet traits in this population?
ii) How is the dominant allele frequency calculated from this population?
iii) Calculate the genotype frequencies: p2 -the frequency of the dominant homozygotes; 2pq -the frequency of heterozygotes; and q2 -the frequency of the recessive homozygotes (hint: insert the values calculated for p and q such that p2+2pq+q2=1.0). Explain why p2 and q2 represent the proportion of dominant and recessive homozygotes, respectively, and why 2pq represents the proportion of heterozygotes (hint: consider the law of independent assortment and the laws of probability).
iv) Is the population in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium? Why or why not?