Question

Silent features of hardy weinberg law and its significance

Answer 1

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Salient Features of Hardy-Weinberg law:

1. The gene and genotype frequencies of each gene or allele in a population remain at an equilib­rium generation after generation.

2. In a population, the mating is a completely random phenomenon.

3. The equilibrium in the gene and genotype frequencies occurs only in large sized populations. In a small population gene frequencies may be unpredictable.

4. All the genotypes in a population reproduce equally successfully.

5. Particular alleles will neither be differentially added to nor differentially subtracted from a population.

*Significance of Hardy-Weinberg Law:

The law is important primarily because it describes the situation in which there is no evolution, and thus it provides a theoretical baseline for measuring evolutionary change. The equilibrium tendency serves to conserve gains which have been made in the past and also to avoid too rapid changes; in other words, giving a genetic stability to the population.

The Hardy-Weinberg equation describes conditions that are not found in natural population. The function of the Hardy-Weinberg principle, and its equation, is as an experimental control— a prediction of what the allelic and genotypic frequencies should be if nothing acts to alter the gene pool. Thus, if q is known to be 0.40 then q2 in the next generation should be 0.16.

If instead it is 0.02, then we known that a change has occurred in the gene pool, the magnitude of that change, and that it was caused by: mutations, genetic drift, gene flow, assertive mating, or natural selection. We can then design experiments to test which of the five agents of change contributed most to the change in allelic and genotypic frequencies.

Hope this helps you

Answer 2

Explanation:

Hardy-Weinberg law:

• For a large population that is randomly mating, the gene and allele frequencies remain constant considering all evolutionary forces are absent. Here, evolutionary forces means- natural selection, genetic drift, mutation, mating by choice etc.
• Hardy Weinberg equation: (p2 + q2 + 2pq = 1),
• Here,  p is the frequency of the dominant allele and q is the frequency of the recessive allele for a gene controlled by a pair of alleles

Salient features of Hardy-Weinberg law:

• In a population, mating is random and not selective.
• The gene and genotype frequencies of each gene or allele in a population remain  constant or at an equilib­rium generation after generation.
• All of the genotypes reproduce equally and successfully.
• Assuming particular alleles will not be differentially added to or differentially subtracted from a population.
• Gene and allele frequencies remain constant only for large sized population. In a small population  gene frequencies may not be constant.

Significance of Hardy-Weinberg law:

• It helps in measuring evolutionary change on a theoretical basis.
• The Hardy-Weinberg equation describes conditions that are not actually found in natural population. The function of the Hardy-Weinberg principle, and its equation, gives experimental data— a prediction of what the allelic and genotypic frequencies should be if no evolutionary forces act to alter the gene pool. Thus, if q is known to be 0.40 then q2 in the next generation should be 0.16.
• If instead it is something other than 0.40 , then we come to know that a change has occurred in the gene pool, we can measure the magnitude of that change, and know it was caused by which of the evolutionary forces.