Hardy and Weinberg developed a theorem that demonstrated that under certain cond

Question

Hardy and Weinberg developed a theorem that demonstrated that under certain conditions of stability the gene and genotypic frequencies of a natural population would tend to stay the same over time. What are the conditions of stability necessary to establish an H-W equilibrium in a natural population? In what ways, can each of these conditions be countermanded in nature to disrupt the equilibrium of a population? Give a plausible example of how this might happen for each of the situations that you mention 2.

Explanation / Answer

Conditions of stability required for establishing H-W Equilibrium-

1. Random Mating- Each individual of a population should have equal opportunity to mate with any other individual of that population i.e all the males and females are equal for each individual.

Deviation:

a)Assortive mating- certain individual with certain traits prefer to mate with individuals with similar traits, for example short man preffering short woman or tall man preffering tall woman

b) Inbreeding- Mating between closely related individuals

c) Outbreeding- preference of mating with individuals who are distantly related.

2.No Natural Selection: No individual will have reproductive advantage over the other for its genotype, all individual should be viable and fertile.

Deviation: Natural selection is always at work and one of the genotype becomes more successful in fertility than the other. For example in case of genetic diseases, the diseased individual with that particular genotype will not be viable enough to reproduce and pass its gene on.

3. No mutation- Mutation should never occur during the formation of allele

Deviation: Mutation is a chance event and if a certain locus shows higher mutation rate, the frequency of mutant allele will increase in the population.

4. No migration

Deviation: Migration causes loos or addition of allele from individuals in and out the population. It produces completely different genotype due to mating of two completely different allele.

5. Large population

Deviation: Small population size causes significant random fluctuations of allele frequency causing genetic drift. This might emit one or more alleles from the population completely.

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