Question

Cynthia, a population geneticist interested in calculating the frequencies of alleles

and genotypes of the Sasquatch population, requested your help to gather data.
As a result, you traveled to Sasquatch territory to observe how many sasquatches
have short hair and how many have long hair. Cynthia explained that short hair (H)
is dominant over long hair (h). Over three grueling days of field work you counted
a total of 125 sasquatches. Twenty had short hair. Based on this information
calculate the frequencies of H, h, HH, Hh, and hh. Points for answering this
question will be based on correctly using the Hardy-Weinberg equations (p + q = 1
and p2 + 2pg + q2 = 1) as well as the following terms: allele, dominant, recessive,
frequency, genotype, phenotype, homozygous recessive, heterozygous, and
homozygous dominant (20 points).

Answer 1

To calculate the frequencies of alleles and genotypes in the Sasquatch population based on the observed hair length, we can use the Hardy-Weinberg equations. The frequency of the H allele is 0.16, the frequency of the h allele is 0.84, and the frequencies of the genotypes HH, Hh, and hh are 0.0256, 0.2688, and 0.7056 respectively.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the frequencies of the alleles and genotypes in the Sasquatch population, we will use the Hardy-Weinberg equations: p + q = 1 and p^2 + 2pq + q^2 = 1.

In this case, short hair (H) is dominant and long hair (h) is recessive. Since 20 out of 125 sasquatches have short hair, the frequency of the H allele (p) is 20/125 = 0.16.

The frequency of the h allele (q) can be calculated as 1 - p = 1 - 0.16 = 0.84. Using these values, we can calculate the frequencies of the genotypes:

• HH: p^2 = 0.16^2 = 0.0256
• Hh: 2pq = 2 * 0.16 * 0.84 = 0.2688
• hh: q^2 = 0.84^2 = 0.7056

These frequencies represent the genetic structure of the Sasquatch population with respect to hair length.