Question

If genetic drift is the only evolutionary force at work in a population, then sampling error will eventually cause what to happen to allele frequencies?

1) The allele with the lowest frequency will always be lost from the population
2) One of the alleles in the population will eventually be fixed
3) The allele with the highest allele frequency will always reach fixation
4) Allele frequencies will randomly wander between 0 and 1 for an infinite amount of time without reaching fixation of any one allele

Answer 1

If genetic drift is the only evolutionary force acting on a population, then over time, genetic drift due to random sampling error will likely lead to the fixation of one of the alleles within that population.

Step-by-step explanation:

When considering the effects of genetic drift as the sole evolutionary force on allele frequencies in a population, it can lead to various outcomes. Genetic drift occurs due to sampling error, which is a random effect that can cause changes in allele frequencies that are not due to any selective advantage or disadvantage. Over time and across generations, this randomness can cause one of the alleles in a population to eventually become fixed. Fixation here means that an allele's frequency becomes 1, making it the only allele present in the population for that gene. Hence, the correct answer to 'If genetic drift is the only evolutionary force at work in a population, then sampling error will eventually cause what to happen to allele frequencies?' is 'One of the alleles in the population will eventually be fixed'.