In an isolated population of fruit flies, 4% of the individuals have pink eyes, a homozygous recessive condition, and 96% have the dominant black eye phenotype. What percentage of the population are heterozygotes?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

32%In a population adhering to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, the frequency of the recessive allele (q) can be found by taking the square root of the frequency of the homozygous recessive phenotype, which is 0.04 for pink eyes. Thus, q = 0.2. The frequency of the dominant allele (p) is 1 - q = 0.8. The frequency of heterozygotes (2pq) is 2(0.8)(0.2) = 0.32, or 32%.

In an Isolated Population of Fruit Flies, 4% of the Individuals