Question

Consider a population of 123 tigers, which are diploid. In this population mating is random, there are no births, no deaths, and no migration. The T-locus in this population has two alleles (T and t) with frequencies T = 0.5 and t = 0.5. What is the probability of the genotype composed of two T alleles? (answer to 3 decimal places)

Answer 1

The probability of a tiger in the population having the genotype with two T alleles, given allele frequencies T=0.5 and t=0.5, is 0.250.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question pertains to the calculation of genotype frequencies within a population of tigers using concepts from population genetics.

According to the Hardy-Weinberg principle, with allele frequencies of T and t being 0.5 each, we can calculate the genotype frequency for homozygous dominant (TT) individuals. The formula to derive this is p² where p is the frequency of the dominant allele T.

Since p is 0.5, the calculation for the TT genotype frequency is 0.5² or 0.25. This means, under the assumptions of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, the probability of a tiger in this population having the genotype composed of two T alleles is 0.250 or rounded to three decimal places, 0.250.