In a given population of Drosophila, curly wings (c) is recessive to the wild-type condition of straight wings (c+). You isolate a population of 35 curly winged flies, 70 flies that are heterozygous for straight wings and 45 that are homozygous for straight wings. What is the frequency of alleles in this population? A)35% c; 45% c⁺ B)46.7% c; 53.3% c⁺ C)50% c; 50% c⁺ D)55% c; 45% c⁺ E) The frequencies cannot be calculated from the provided information

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Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The frequency of the homozygous recessive curly winged flies (cc) can be calculated by dividing the number of curly winged flies (35) by the total number of flies (150). This gives a frequency of 0.233 or 23.3%, which represents the frequency of the recessive c allele. To find the frequency of the dominant C allele, we can use the Hardy-Weinberg equation: p^2 + 2pq + q^2 = 1 where p is the frequency of the C allele, q is the frequency of the c allele, and pq is the frequency of heterozygous flies. We already know q (0.233) and we can find pq by multiplying the frequency of heterozygous flies (70/150 = 0.467) by 2. 2pq = 2(0.467)(0.233) = 0.218 approx. Now we can solve for p: p^2 + 0.218 + 0.233^2 = 1 p^2 + 0.218 + 0.054 = 1 p^2 = 0.728 p = 0.853 approx. Therefore, the frequency of the dominant C allele is approximately 85.3%. The frequency of the heterozygous Cc genotype can be calculated as 2pq, which is approximately 21.8%. The frequency of the homozygous dominant CC genotype can be calculated as p^2, which is approximately 72.8%. Therefore, the frequency of alleles in this population is 46.7% c and 53.3% C (or c⁺).

In a Given Population of Drosophila, Curly Wings (C) Is