Question

Thirty people are selected for a long-term mission to colonize a planet many light years away from Earth. The mission is successful and the population rapidly grows to several hundred individuals. However, certain genetic diseases are unusually common in this group, and their gene pool is quite different from that of the Earth population they have left behind. Which of the following phenomena has left its mark on this population?
a) gene flow
b) natural selection
c) high rates of mutation
d) founder effect
e) bottleneck effect

Answer 1

Answer:

d) founder effect

Explanation:

Founder effect is a genetic drift that occurs when a new population is formed by small number of people from a larger population. As a result of this drift, the spread of a disease can increase. For example If a small population moves from a larger population to settle in a desert, the founder effect can occur. If some of the colonizers are carriers of a disease, this disease would spread faster in the small population than if it had been in a larger population.