LIFE 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 25: Allele Frequency, Mendelian Inheritance, Population Genetics
10 Dec 2016
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Document Summary
Mutations produce genetic variability (new alleles and phenotypes) Mutations are the raw material for natural selection they occur randomly and do not result from changes in the environment; this is a huge misconception about evolution. Most mutations are deleterious (a gene becomes dysfunctional) but rarely a mutation can be beneficial and, if carried in gametes, can become established in a population. Not like mendelian genetics, where we look at crosses between parents of known genotypes or figure out genotypes of individuals from a pedigree. Instead, they look at frequencies of alleles and genotypes in a population. If the population is not evolving, we can use a simple equation called hardy-weinberg equilibrium. One important assumption of hardy-weinberg is that matings are random. This means that any egg van fuse with any sperm. The letter p = frequency of one allele (e. g. the dominant allele a). The letter q = frequency of the other allele (e. g. the recessive allele a).
