You have discovered that a single co-dominant gene controls the date when Monarch butterflies break diapause and become reproductively active each spring in Mexico. You were extremely busy this spring, and extensively sampled one overwintering site to find that 1600 monarchs broke diapause in early February, 400 broke diapause in late February, and 700 broke diapause in early March. You know there are two alleles at this locus, and that heterozygotes break diapause in late February.
a. What is the observed frequency of the allele coding for early emergence?
b. You see that heterozygotes are underrepresented in the population and hypothesize that inbreeding may be the cause. What is the reduction in heterozygosity in this population compared to a panmictic (non-inbred) population (i.e., how many fewer heterozygotes do you observe than if the population were in HWE)?
c. Why do you think assortative mating is likely to occur in this population?
You have discovered that a single co-dominant gene controls the date when Monarch butterflies break diapause and become reproductively active each spring in Mexico. You were extremely busy this spring, and extensively sampled one overwintering site to find that 1600 monarchs broke diapause in early February, 400 broke diapause in late February, and 700 broke diapause in early March. You know there are two alleles at this locus, and that heterozygotes break diapause in late February.
a. What is the observed frequency of the allele coding for early emergence?
b. You see that heterozygotes are underrepresented in the population and hypothesize that inbreeding may be the cause. What is the reduction in heterozygosity in this population compared to a panmictic (non-inbred) population (i.e., how many fewer heterozygotes do you observe than if the population were in HWE)?
c. Why do you think assortative mating is likely to occur in this population?
