Question

For a population to be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, five assumptions must be true. Choose two of these and explain them briefly.

Answer 1

The conditions to maintain the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium are:

- no mutation;

- no gene flow;

- large population size;

- random mating;

- no natural selection.

The mutations are permanent changes to in the gene sequence of DNA, these changes can provoke genotypic alterations in the population, that may or may not, cause phenotypic changes. But to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium this can not happen, must not occur the apperance of new alleles or/and new characteristics in the population.

The random mating is when individuals mate without the preference for selected characteristics in their potential mate, to maintain the genetic equilibrium, the mating must result in the production of a number of offspring that is the same for all females in the population. In non-random mating and sexual selection, an organism chooses a mate based on the traits of this potential mate with characteristics preferable to linving in the environment that have a high probability of success in the population.