Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium MCQ - Practice Questions & Answers

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Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium

In a given population one can find out the frequency of occurrence of alleles of a gene or a locus.
This frequency is supposed to remain fixed and even remain the same throughout the generations.
Hardy-Weinberg principle stated it using algebraic equations.
The Hardy-Weinberg principle can be used to estimate the frequency of alleles and genotypes in a population.
This principle says that allele frequencies in a population are stable and are constant from generation to generation.
The gene pool (total genes and their alleles in a population) remains a constant.
This is called genetic equilibrium.
Sum total of all the allelic frequencies is 1.
Ultimately, the Hardy-Weinberg principle models a population without evolution under the following conditions:
- no mutations
- no immigration/emigration
- no natural selection
- no sexual selection
- a large population
Although no real-world population can satisfy all of these conditions, the principle still offers a useful model for population analysis.
Individual frequencies, for example, can be named p, q, etc.
In a diploid, p and q represent the frequency of allele A and allele a.
The frequency of AA individuals in a population is simply p².
Similarly of aa is q², of Aa 2pq.
Hence, p²+2pq+q²=1. This is a binomial expansion of (p+q)².
When frequency measured differs from expected values, the difference (direction) indicates the extent of evolutionary change.
Disturbance in genetic equilibrium, or Hardy- Weinberg equilibrium, i.e., change of frequency of alleles in a population would then be interpreted as resulting in evolution.
Five factors are known to affect Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium:
- Gene migration or gene flow
- Genetic drift
- Mutation
- Genetic recombination
- Natural selection