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Review Problems in Population

Genetics
Frequency: the number of times that a value appears in a set. In the set {1,3,3,4,2,5},
the frequency of the value “3” is 2 and the frequency of the value “5” is 1.
Relative Frequency: the frequency expressed as a proportion of the total number of values
in the set. Thus, in the example above, the frequency of “3” is 2/6 or 0.333…
In population genetics, we talk about relative frequency, but shorten the term to “frequency”.
Frequency and probability are related. If we know that ¼ of the alleles of a particular gene in a
population are “ob” (as opposed to wild type, “ob+”), and we randomly select 1 egg from the
population, then the probability that the egg will have the “ob” allele is 0.25. If we then replace
that egg and sample 100 times, at what frequency would we get an “ob” egg? That frequency
would also be around 0.25.
Problem 1.In a population of voles, fur color is determined by a single gene. The population is
very large, and immigration, emigration, and selection are negligible. The genotypes AA and
Aa have the BROWN fur phenotype. The genotype aa has the WHITE fur phenotype. In the
population, 50% of the alleles of this gene are “A” and 50% of the alleles are “a”.
a. What is the relative frequency of “A” alleles in the population? What is the relative
frequency of “a” alleles? (Use proportions to express this: >0 answer <1)
a. A = 0.5
b. A = 0.5
b. If two voles mate, and you only know that they come from this
population:
i. What is the probability that the EGG will carry the “A” allele?
a. 0.5
ii. What is the probability that the SPERM will carry the “A” allele?
a. 0.5
iii. What is the probability that the EGG will carry the “a” allele?
a. 0.5
iv. What is the probability that the sperm will carry the “a” allele?
a. 0.5
c. Assume that all the voles in this population mate randomly. Use a Punnett Square (draw
the square) to determine the expected relative frequencies of offspring with these
GENOTYPES:
a. AA – 0.25
b. Aa --- 0.25
c. aA--- 0.25
d. aa--- 0.25
Problem 2.
a. Assuming Hardy-Weinberg conditions are met by a population, what are the
PREDICTIONS about this population, based on the Hardy-Weinberg principle?
a. We can predict that there is no mutations, no immigration or emigration, no genetic
drift and that mating is random with no specific selection
b. In the population of voles, above, historically, 50% of the alleles of the fur color gene
are “A” alleles and 50% are “a” alleles. However, you sample the population just after a
major weather disaster. The population is still large. You find that the relative
frequencies of the alleles have changed: 30% of the alleles of this gene are now “A” and
70% of the alleles are now “a”.
i. Can you determine the relative frequencies of the genotypes (AA, Aa, aa)
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based on this information? Explain.

a. Yes we can predict this information under the HWE to be that AA would
be 0.09, Aa would be 0.42 and aa would be 0.49
ii. If you wait for one generation to pass, can you determine the expected
relative frequencies of the genotypes based on this information? Explain.
a. We can determine this by starting with the allele frequencies after the
disaster to be 0.3 and 0.7 and after one generation it would be 0.09 for
AA, 0.42 for Aa and 0.49 for aa with the assumptions that the
population is much larger and there is random mating occurring.
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Problem 3. The frequency of an allele B is 0.6.

a. What is the frequency of the alternative allele b, assuming only 2 options (B and b)?
a. The frequency of allele b would be 0.4
b. Calculate the expected genotypic (BB, Bb, bb) frequencies at Hardy-Weinberg
equilibrium.
a. BB = 0.36
b. Bb = 0.48
c. Bb = 0.16
Problem 4. If two alleles of a certain gene have equal frequencies, what are the expected
genotypic frequencies at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?
- The expected genotypic frequencies would be BB – 0.25, Bb – 0.50 and bb to be 0.25
Problem 5. In a population of 1000 individuals, the alleles of a particular gene were examined.
There were 200 individuals with genotype AA, 500 individuals with genotype Aa, and 300
individuals with genotype aa.
a. Calculate the three genotypic frequencies for this gene.
a. AA – 0.2, Aa – 0.5, aa – 0.3
b. Calculate the allelic frequencies for the two alleles.
a. A – 0.45 and a – 0.55
c. Assume Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. After ONE generation of mating, what would
the expected allelic and genotypic frequencies be in this population?
a. The expected allele frequencies would be 0.45 (A) and 0.55 (a) as well as the
genotypic would be AA – 0.2025, Aa – 0.495, aa – 0.3025
d. Pretend that you are planning on going out and sampling this population. Do you think
that the EXPECTED allelic and genotypic frequencies that you calculated in c. would
actually exist in the population? Why or why not?
a. They would exist based on assuming that there are not any factors that are
influencing the allelic and genotypic frequencies such as natural selection,
genetic drift, mutations etc.
Problem 6. The gene for M-N blood types was examined in a sample population of 730
Australian aborigine people. There were 22 individuals with blood type MM, 216 with
type MN, and 492 with type NN.
a. Calculate the genotypic frequencies for this gene.
a. MM – 0.03
b. MN – 0.295
c. NN – 0.67
b. Calculate the frequencies of the M and N alleles.
a. For M it would be 0.18
b. For N it would be 0.82
Problem 7. Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disorder in homozygous recessive individuals that often
resulted in death during the teenage years, although recent medical breakthroughs are extending
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lifespan of affected individuals to twenties and sometimes thirties.

a. If 4 in 10,000 newborn babies have the disease, what are the expected frequencies of the
three genotypes in newborns, assuming the population is at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?
a. For the expected frequencies, homozygous dominant would be 0.96, heterzygous
to be 0.03 and homozygous recessive to be very small – 0.01.
b. Why is this assumption not strictly correct?
a. It is not correct because it does not take into account the conditions and HWE
assumes there are no mutations which in this case is not strictly correct as cystic
fibrosis can also affect the survival and reproduction success as well because of the
selection against the homozygous recessive genotype.
Problem 8. Suppose that 64% of individuals living in a mountain village can taste a chemical
compound called PTC and must therefore have at least one copy of the dominant PTC taster
allele. Assuming this population is in Hardy Weinberg equilibrium for this gene, what
percentage of the population must be heterozygous for this trait?
- Around 48% of the population has to be heterozygous for the specific PTC tasting trait.