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The Founder Effect: Genetic Drift

Genetic drift is the random change in allele frequencies that occurs by chance in small populations or when a subpopulation becomes isolated. The founder effect is an example where a small group of individuals establish a new population with different allele frequencies than the original population due to chance events. The Hardy-Weinberg Principle describes the expected allele frequencies in a population without evolutionary influences, but it does not apply in small populations, under selective pressure, with migration, or non-random mating. It can be used to detect directional selection by comparing expected and observed allele frequencies.

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28 views

The Founder Effect: Genetic Drift

Genetic drift is the random change in allele frequencies that occurs by chance in small populations or when a subpopulation becomes isolated. The founder effect is an example where a small group of individuals establish a new population with different allele frequencies than the original population due to chance events. The Hardy-Weinberg Principle describes the expected allele frequencies in a population without evolutionary influences, but it does not apply in small populations, under selective pressure, with migration, or non-random mating. It can be used to detect directional selection by comparing expected and observed allele frequencies.

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Genetic Drift

- Genetic drift is a random process defined as: The change in allele frequency that occurs by
chance because only some of the organisms of each generation reproduce.
- The founder effect: When a few individuals become isolated from a larger population, this
smaller group may establish a new population whose gene pool differs from the source
population. It might occur, for example when a few members of a population are blown away by
a storm to a new island. Genetic drift, in which chance events alter allele frequencies, will occur
in such a case and if the storm transports, by chance, some individuals and their alleles but not
others from the source population.

The Hardy-Weinberg Principle


- This principle is used when a trait is controlled by two genes (A/a). p= frequency of A; q=
frequency of a.
p+q=1
p^2 + 2pq + q^2 =1

- These principles do not apply when:


The population is small
There is a significant selective pressure against one of the genotypes.
There is migration of individuals carrying one of the two alleles into or out of the population.
There is non-random mating.
- These principle are useful when trying to find out whether directional selection (evolution) is
occurring in a population. If the expected values, according to the Hardy-Weinberg Principle,
differ significantly from the real allele frequencies, then there is directional selection in that
population

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