Conclusion

In this lab, we tested and observed the relationship between evolution and changes in
allele frequencies. Using the Hardy-Weinberg equation, we learned how to calculate the
frequencies of alleles and genotypes in the gene pool of a population. In order to do this
lab we used the class as a sample population. For the Hardy-Weinberg theory to work the
population must be in equilibrium. This has three requirements; a large population, no
migration, no selection, no mutations, and random mating. Due to the fact that we could
only use our class there was a relatively small population which therefore could not
ensure random mating. In case I everyone started out as heterozygous, Aa. After five
“mating” simulations we counted how many people were heterozygous, homozygous
dominant (AA), and homozygous recessive (aa). The Hardy-Weinberg theory predicts
the p and q frequencies to be .5 and .5. However we did not get those results. Q was a
greater frequency than p. The cause of this is probably because we had a small
population to work with and students probably did not “mate” randomly.
In case II we had the homozygous dominant die. This allowed for only
homozygous recessive and heterozygous to survive. This made p higher than q because
the frequency of q in the population would decrease because it’s homozygous would not
survive. In case III we took counts after five times of random “mating” and after ten
times of random “mating”. This time only half of the homozygous dominants would
survive. The other half would die and we would mate again. The p and q frequencies
were slightly closer than in Case II probably because some of the homozygous dominant
survived. Taking the amount of alleles twice in case III was intriguing because it seems
that there is no definite reason for it. It may allow for some more genetic variation but
that did not show up in our results. In the last case, Case IV, we separated the class into
two different populations. One was larger and the other one was smaller. In the smaller
population there ended up to be no homozygous recessive, only homozygous dominant
and heterozygous. The reason for that is because once the students mated once and lost
the homozygous recessive they never regained it because of the fact that it’s a recessive
trait. The large population got much different results. Out of the twelve students in that
population, four were homozygous dominant, four were heterozygous, and the final four
were homozygous recessive. This displays accurate results according to the Hardy-
Weinberg theory. The p and q allele frequencies were equal which led to an even amount
of traits.