Biology 1201A Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Natural Disaster, Heterozygote Advantage, Sickle-Cell Disease

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18 Dec 2017

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Heterozygote advantage: selection in which the heterozygote phenotype has the highest fitness. In order for this to occur the heterozygote phenotype must be different that both homozygous phenotypes. Different alleles for haemoglobin cause red blood cells to not be shaped properly sickle cell. People who have the sickle cell trait technically have lower fitness sickle cell anemia. Homozygotes some have 100% sickle cells, some have 100% normal red blood cells. Heterozygote have both sickle cells and regular cells. In canada there is no heterozygote advantage, but in africa there is a heterozygote advantage. The parasite that causes malaria is good at affecting normal cells but not sickle cells. Individuals that produce sickle cells are less likely to contract malaria. Homozygous normal high chance of contracting malaria, therefore decreased fitness. Homozygous sickle you have sickle cell anemia therefore decreased fitness. Heterozygous just have sickle cell trait, and are less likely to be infected by the malaria parasite, therefore increased fitness.

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QUESTION 15 (8 points)

Sickle-cell anemia is an interesting genetic disease. Normal homozygous individuals (SS) have normal blood cells that are easily infected with the malarial parasite. Individuals homozygous for the sickle-cell trait (ss) have red blood cells that readily collapse when deoxygenated. Although malaria cannot grow in these red blood cells, individuals often die because of the genetic defect. However, individuals with the heterozygous condition (Ss) have some sickling of red blood cells, but generally not enough to cause mortality. In addition, malaria cannot survive well within these "partially defective" red blood cells. Thus, heterozygotes tend to survive better than either of the homozygous conditions. If 9% of an African population is born with a severe form of sickle-cell anemia (ss), what percentage of the population will be more resistant to malaria because they are heterozygous (Ss) for the sickle-cell gene?

Sickle-cell anemia is an interesting genetic disease. Normal homozygous individuals (SS) have normal blood cells that are easily infected with the malarial parasite. Thus, many of these individuals become very ill from the parasite and many die. Individuals homozygous for the sickle-cell trait (ss) have red blood cells that readily collapse when deoxygenated. Although malaria cannot grow in these red blood cells, individuals often die because of the genetic defect. However, individuals with the heterozygous condition (Ss) have some sickling of red blood cells, but generally not enough to cause mortality. In addition, malaria cannot survive well within these "partially defective" red blood cells. Thus, heterozygotes tend to survive better than either of the homozygous conditions. Assuming an African-American child were born each day of the year, statistically, one of these children per year would have a severe form of sickle-cell anemia (ss). Assuming Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium of these alleles, what is the percentage of the African-American population that are sickle-cell carriers? (Note that these carriers will turn out to be more resistant to malaria, should they decide to visit a malaria-infested part of the world; sometimes there are bizarre perks to being a carrier of a horrible disease!). Enter a percentage number (round up to whole number) without percent sign (%)

Q1. What are alleles?Different forms of the same gene.Different genes.The different characteristics of an organism.Genes found only in humans.Q2. If you add up the frequency of homozygotes + the frequency of heterozygotes for one gene (i.e. at one locus) in a population, what number do you get?Q3. People who are heterozygous for the sickle-cell allele:Are susceptible to malaria but not sickle-cell anemia.Are susceptible to sickle-cell anemia but not malaria.Are not susceptible to either sickle-cell anemia or malaria.Are susceptible to both sickle-cecell anemia and malaria.Q4. In the case study in this lab, which genotype is represented by "2pq" in the Hardy-Weinberg equation?Homozygous HbAHomozygous HbSHeterozygous HbA/HbSNo specific genotypeQ5. Suppose that, in an isolated village, the proportion of individuals that have sickle-cell anemia is 0.1 (or 1 of every 10 people). What proportion of the population should be sickle-cell carriers, according to Hardy-Weinberg expectations?Q6. When you simulated the elimination of malaria at the beginning of the lab, once the allele frequencies stabilized, what was the frequency of the HbA allele?Q7. When you investigated regional differences, what was the frequency (over many generations) of the HbS allele in the village in the "slightly wet" part of Africa?Q8. What is the number of deaths due to sickle-cell anemia in a region without mosquitoes expected to be?Very lowVery highModerateRelated to the frequency of malaria allelesQ9. As long as there are multiple alleles of a gene in a population, why will the frequencies of the alleles always change over time?Because natural selection changes all allele frequencies in populations over time.Because genetic drift causes random fluctuations of allele frequencies in populations.Because diseases will eliminate some of the alleles, generating fluctuations in their frequencies.Because allele frequencies fluctuate before the alleles eventually become fixed.Q10. Imagine a huge population with a gene that has ten functionally equivalent, neutral alleles. A small but genetically representative group of individuals from the big population is transported to an island, forming a small population. Which of the statements below best describes what will likely happen over time, and why?Because natural selection doesn't act on neutral alleles, the frequencies in the two populations should remain the same over time.Genetic drift will cause one allele to first become fixed in the island population, and later to become fixed in the original, large population.Genetic drift will result in the allele frequencies of the two populations diverging over time, with alleles being lost sooner in the island population.The allele frequencies of the two populations will change similarly due to a combination of genetic drift natural selection.

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Biology 1201A Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Natural Disaster, Heterozygote Advantage, Sickle-Cell Disease

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