Human Heredity 11th Edition by Michael Cummings

Exercise 10

A specific mutation in the BRCA1 gene has been estimated to be present in approximately 1% of Ashkenazi Jewish women of Eastern European descent. This specific alteration, 185delAG, is found about three times more often in this ethnic group than the combined frequency of the other 125 mutations found to date. It is believed that the mutation is the result of a founder effect from many centuries ago. Explain the founder principle.