Human albinism is an autosomal recessive trait.Suppose that you find a village in the Andes where one-fourth of the population is albino.If the population size is 1000 and the population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium with respect to this trait,how many individuals are expected to be heterozygotes?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

If one-fourth of the population is albino, then the frequency of the recessive allele (q) is the square root of 0.25, which is 0.5. Therefore, the frequency of the dominant allele (p) is 1 - q = 0.5. 
Using the Hardy-Weinberg equation, we can calculate the expected frequencies of the three genotypes: 
p^2 + 2pq + q^2 = 1 
(0.5)^2 + 2(0.5)(0.5) + (0.5)^2 = 1 
0.25 + 0.5 + 0.25 = 1 
So, the expected frequency of the heterozygous genotype (2pq) is 2(0.5)(0.5) = 0.5 or 500 individuals out of 1000. Therefore, the best choice is D.

Human Albinism Is an Autosomal Recessive Trait