Question

Predict the effect of a bottleneck or founder effect on allelic diversity.

Answer 1

The Founder Effect is defined as a type of bottleneck, "a type of genetic drift describing the loss of the allelic variation that accompanies founding of a new population from a very small number of individuals (a small sample of a much larger source population).

The founder effect occurs when there is a lack of genetic variation due to a small mating population. The Founder Effect happens when there is a dramatic decrease in genetic diversity caused by the development of small colonies of individuals, from the original population, that remain isolated to other colonies.

A founder effect can result either from a true founder event (i.e., the establishment of a new population from individuals derived from a much larger population) or from an extreme reduction in population size (i.e., a bottleneck in size). In either case, alleles present in one copy immediately after the founder event or bottleneck may be found at a much higher frequency than they were previously and can reach even higher frequencies because of strong genetic drift occurring while the population is still small.