Question

Which is an example of genetic drift?

Answer 1

An example of genetic drift is a population of rabbits with alleles a and b both of them are present in equal frequencies p=0.5 and q = 0.5 if 10 parents reproduce

Answer 2

Answer:

Explanation:

Genetic drift, gene flow, mutations, and natural selection are responsible for the change in the gene pool over time. Example of genetic drift: a population of rabbits with alleles B and b, both alleles are present in equal frequencies p = 0.5 and q = 0.5 if 10 parents reproduce the probability of having an offspring with alleles B or b is 0.5; however, by chance, a slight difference in the offspring allele frequency might occur due to random sampling. As a result, in the next generation, the allele frequencies will change slightly to new frequencies by chance to become p = 0.4 and q = 0.6. in the following generations, the random sampling of alleles continues and the change in allele frequency will be greatly different from the initial 0.5 frequency due to genetic drift. Even though genetic drifting is one of the factors that participate in the evolutionary process of the genetic pool by increasing or decreasing a certain allele’s frequency, however, it does not influence the adaptation of individuals to the environment since the affected genes may be harmful or beneficial genes.

Resources:

Masel, J. (2011). Genetic drift. Current Biology, 21(20), R837-R838.‏

Kliman, R. M. (2016). Encyclopedia of evolutionary biology. Academic Press.‏

Maloy, S., & Hughes, K. (Eds.). (2013). Brenner’s Encyclopedia of Genetics. Academic Press.‏

Clark, M, A., Douglas, M., & Choi, J. (2018). Biology 2e. Openstax

©BiologyOnline. Content provided and moderated by BiologyOnline Editors.