A small Dutch population settled in South Africa in the 17th century and became known as Afrikaners. By chance, a few Dutch settlers carried the gene for Huntington's disease. Today, Huntington's disease occurs at a relatively high frequency in this population. This is an example of ____.
A) the bottleneck effect
B) the founder effect
C) gene flow
D) artificial selection
E) natural selection

Question

​A small Dutch population settled in South Africa in the 17th century and became known as Afrikaners. By chance, a few Dutch settlers carried the gene for Huntington's disease. Today, Huntington's disease occurs at a relatively high frequency in this population. This is an example of ____.
A) ​the bottleneck effect
B) ​the founder effect
C) ​gene flow
D) ​artificial selection
E) ​natural selection

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The founder effect occurs when a new colony is started by a few members of the original population. This small population size means that the new colony may have reduced genetic variation from the original population and a non-random sample of the genes in the original population. In the case of the Dutch settlers in South Africa, the relatively high frequency of Huntington's disease among their descendants is a classic example of the founder effect, as the disease's prevalence is attributed to the genes of the initial settlers.

​A Small Dutch Population Settled in South Africa in the 17th

A Small Dutch Population Settled in South Africa in the 17th