Question

You are studying a population of pangolins and you observe that there are two alleles for scute shape. Allele 1 codes for round scutes and allele 2 codes for square scutes. Allele 2 is at a frequency of 40

1) 0.25
2) 0.40
3) 0.50
4) 0.60
5) It's impossible to say

Answer 1

The frequency of the allele coding for round scutes in pangolins is 0.60 since the allele for square scutes has a frequency of 0.40 and the two frequencies must sum to 1.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the allele frequency of round scutes in a population of pangolins, if we know allele 2 coding for square scutes has a frequency of 0.40, we can calculate the frequency of allele 1. In a population where only two alleles exist for a trait, the sum of their frequencies must equal 1. Therefore, the frequency of allele 1 is 1 – 0.40, which equals 0.60. As such, the frequency of allele 1 coding for round scutes would be option 4) 0.60.