161k views
4 votes
If 73% of a population's gene pool is made up of the dominant allele, what percent of the population is homozygous dominant?

1 Answer

2 votes
If the dominant allele makes up $73 \%$ of the gene pool, then the recessive allele must make up the remaining $27 \%$ of the gene pool.

Let $p$ represent the frequency of the dominant allele and $q$ represent the frequency of the recessive allele. According to the Hardy-Weinberg principle, $p+q=1$.

We know that $p=0.73$, so we can solve for $q$:

\begin{align*}
p+q &=1 \\
q &=1-p \\
q &=1-0.73 \\
q &=0.27
\end{align*}

Now we can use the Hardy-Weinberg equation to determine the frequency of homozygous dominant individuals in the population:

\begin{align*}
p^2 + 2pq + q^2 &= 1 \\
p^2 &= (0.73)^2 \\
p^2 &= 0.5329 \\
\end{align*}

Therefore, the frequency of homozygous dominant individuals in the population is $p^2 = 0.5329$, or approximately $53 \%$.

So, about $53 \%$ of the population is homozygous dominant.
User Crg
by
8.4k points
Welcome to QAmmunity.org, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other members of our community.

9.4m questions

12.2m answers

Categories