Question

A student proposes that left-handedness is a recessive trait that is therefore hidden in much of the human population. A survey of 36 students finds that 27 (0.75) are right-handed and 9 (0.25) are left-handed. Using the Hardy-Weinberg equation, what would the expected genotype and allele frequencies be in this theoretical population?

Answer 1

0.25 right-handed homozygous, 0.50 heterozygous, and 0.25 recessive homozygous for a 0.5 allele frequency for each allele

Step-by-step explanation:

In the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium equation is ( p²+2pq+q²=1 ),

• the term 2pq represents the genotype frequency of heterozygotes (Aa) in a population in equilibrium.
• the term p² represents the frequency of dominant homozygotes (AA) and
• the term q² represents the frequency of recessive homozygotes (aa).