Question

A population of ants has a body color that is either red or black. The color is a result of one gene, with two alleles: The "B" allele (dominant) produces the black color, while the "b" allele (recessive) produces the red color. The gene system demonstrates complete dominance. The population is in HardyWeinberg equilibrium. In this population there are 38 black ants while there are 162 red ones. Determine the following genotypic and allele frequencies: Genotypic frequencies : Freq * (BB) = Freq * (Bb) = Freq * (bb) = Allele frequencies: Freq * (B) = Freq * (b) =

Answer 1

number of red ants (bb)= 162

number of black ants = 38

total number of ants= 200

frequency of bb genotype= number of ants with bb genotype/total number of ants= number of red ants/total number of ants=162/200=0.81

allele frequency of b= genotypic frequency of bb

= 0.81

= 0.9

given that population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium so

allele frequency of b + allele frequency of B=1

allele frequency of B= 1- allele frequency of b

= 1-0.9

=0.1

genotypic frequency of BB= ( allele frequency of B)^2

= ( 0.1)^2

= 0.001

genotypic frequency of Bb= 2 frequency of allele B frequency of allele b

= 2 0.9 0.1

= 0.18

Genotypic frequencies :

Frequency of (BB) =0.01

Frequency of (Bb) = 0.18

Frequency of (bb) = 0.81

Allele frequencies:

Frequency of (B) = 0.9

Frequency of (b) = 0.1