Question

Which one of the following violates the assumptions upon which the Hardy-Weinberg Law is based?

(A) There is no selection against any allele in the population.
(B) There is a constant mutation rate where lethal genes are replaced by new mutations.
(C) There is a large population with assortative mating.
(D) There is no migration into the population.

Answer 1

The option that violates the Hardy-Weinberg Law's assumptions is a large population with assortative mating, as it implicates nonrandom mating, which affects genotype frequencies and thereby disrupts the equilibrium.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question addresses a concept in biology known as the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, which lays out the conditions under which allele and genotype frequencies remain constant in a population from generation to generation. Among the options provided, the one that violates the assumptions of the Hardy-Weinberg law is (C) There is a large population with assortative mating. This is because assortative mating is a form of nonrandom mating, which directly contravenes one of the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium conditions, affecting the genotype frequencies within the population.

For a population to be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, several conditions must be met, including:

• No natural selection against any allele.
• No mutations introducing new alleles into the population.
• A very large population size to minimize the effects of genetic drift.
• Random mating among individuals.
• No migration or gene flow into or out of the population.

Any deviation from these conditions, such as assortative mating, leads to a violation of Hardy-Weinberg assumptions and may result in evolution of the population.