Question

In chickens, the allele for feathered legs (F) is dominant over the allele for bare legs (f). In a population of chickens on a farm, 240 chickens have feathered legs (FF or Ff), and 80 chickens have bare legs (ff). How many chickens can be expected to be heterozygous for feathered legs (Ff)? Assume that the conditions of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium apply to the population.

Answer 1

Answer:

0.5

Explanation:

According to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium p2+2pq+q2=1 (p+q=1)

p2 is frequency of the dominant homozygous genotype

2pq is the frequency of the heterozygous genotype

q2 is the frequency of the recessive homozygous genotype

In the example above 80 chickens have bare legs (ff)-recessive homozygous which means that the frequency of that genotype is 80/240+80=0.25 (q2), frequency of the recessive allele is$\sqrt{0.25}$=0.5. This means that the frequency of the dominant allele (p) is 1-0.5=0.5

So, the frequency of the heterozygous genotype (2pq) is 2*0.5*0.5=0.5

The frequency of the dominant homozygous genotype is p2=0.25