LIFESCI 1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 21: Zygosity, Pseudogene, Mendelian Inheritance
Document Summary
Population genetics is the study of patterns of genetic variation. Species: individuals that exchange genetic material through inbreeding. Gene pool: all the alleles present in all individuals in the species. Population: interbreeding groups of organisms of the same species living in the same geographical area. Mutation and recombination are the two sources of genetic variation. Genetic variation has two sources: mutation generates new variation, and recombination followed by segregation of homologous chromosomes. To understand patterns of genetic variation, we require information about allele frequencies. Allele frequencies of a and a provide a measure of genetic variation at one gene in a given population. Early population geneticists relied on observable traits and gel electrophoresis to measure variation. Many traits are encoded by a large number of genes. Phenotype is a product of the genotype and environment. Gel electrophoresis separates segments of dna according to their size. Dna sequencing is the gold standard for measuring genetic variation.
