Question

In an isolated population of 80 desert bighorn sheep, homozygosity for a mutant recessive allele c causes curled coats. The wild-type dominant allele c produces straight coats. A biologist studying these sheep counts 12 with curled coats. She also takes blood samples from all of the sheep in the population for DNA analysis, which reveals that 32 of the sheep are heterozygous carriers of the c allele. What is the coefficient of inbreeding ( F ) for this population?

a. 0.12
b. 0.88
c. 0.40
d. 0.35
e. 0.09

Answer 1

The coefficient of inbreeding for the population of desert bighorn sheep is approximately 0.2667 or 26.67%.

Step-by-step explanation:

The coefficient of inbreeding (F) for this population can be calculated using the formula F = (q^2) / (1 - q), where q is the frequency of the recessive allele (c) in the population.

In this case, we are given that 32 out of 80 sheep are heterozygous carriers of the c allele, which means q = (2 * 32) / (2 * 80) = 0.4.

Plugging this value into the formula, we get:

F = (0.4^2) / (1 - 0.4)

= 0.16 / 0.6

= 0.2667.

Therefore, the coefficient of inbreeding for this population is approximately 0.2667 or 26.67%.