A population of caribou in Alaska has decreased dramatically during the past dec

Question

A population of caribou in Alaska has decreased dramatically during the past decade. It is unclear whether this is due to A) environmental changes due to global warming or if it may be due to B) new roads that have isolated populations forcing increased inbreeding. You have been asked to assess the genetic health of a population of caribou in Alaska. You genotype 2,000 individuals in this population with a microsatellite marker (that produces the indicated bands on a gel) and obtain the following results: Type I = 1, 140 individuals; Type II = 140 individuals; Type III = 720 individuals. Show your work. a. Is the population in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium ? b. What is your conclusion about the genetic health of the population and the reason for the decreased population and why?

Explanation / Answer

a. Number of individuals genotype with microsatellite marker = 2000

Population containing Type I marker = 1140

Population containing Type II marker = 140

Population containing Type IIi marker = 720

Frequency of Type I = 1140 / 2000 = 0.57

Frequency of type II = 140 / 2000 = 0.07

Frequency of type III = 720 / 2000 = 0.36

According to Hardy - Weinberg equilibrium : p2 + 2pq + q2 =1

(0.57)2 + 2 (0.57) (0.36) + (0.36)2 = 0.324 + 0.41 + 0.129 = 0.863

But, the population is not in Hardy - Weinberg equilibrium because, the frequencies of markers are < 1.

b.

The genetic health of population is decreased due to incidence of diseases and might be due to various environmental and genetic causes. The genetic causes mainly include increased inbreeding promoting the increase in recessive allele frequency.

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