Dawg
03-26-2008, 11:49 AM
I've been readin this stuff in my spare time...I find it fascinating. So thought I'd put up a "cooks tour" and pop in some links. See if any are willing to learn with me and share some thoughts.
Below is from Wikipedia, just search it up to get entire article. If your not into looong winded and complex reading best not bother.
In population genetics, the Hardy–Weinberg principle states that the genotype frequencies in a population remain constant or are in equilibrium from generation to generation unless specific disturbing influences are introduced. Those disturbing influences include non-random mating, new mutations, selection, random genetic drift and gene flow. Genetic equilibrium is a basic principle of population genetics.
The Hardy-Weinberg principle is like a Punnett square for populations, instead of individuals. A Punnett square can predict the probability of offspring's genotype based on parents' genotype or the offsprings' genotype can be used to reveal the parents' genotype. Likewise, the Hardy-Weinberg principle can be used to calculate the frequency of particular alleles based on frequency of, say, an autosomal recessive disease.
In the simplest case of a single locus with two alleles: the dominant allele is denoted A and the recessive a. Their frequencies are p and q; freq(A)=p and freq(a)=q. Based on the fact that the probabilities of all genotypes must sum to unity, we can determine useful, difficult-to-measure facts about a population. For example, a patient's child is a carrier of a recessive mutation that causes cystic fibrosis in homozygous recessive children. The parent wants to know the probability of her grandchildren inheriting the disease. In order to answer this question, the genetic counselor must know the chance that the child will reproduce with a carrier of the recessive mutation. This fact may not be known, but disease frequency is known. We know that the disease is caused by the homozygous recessive genotype; we can use the Hardy-Weinberg principle to work backward from disease occurrence to the frequency of heterozygous recessive individuals.
This concept is also known by a variety of names: HWP, Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium, HWE, or Hardy–Weinberg law. It was named after G. H. Hardy and Wilhelm Weinberg.
Below is from Wikipedia, just search it up to get entire article. If your not into looong winded and complex reading best not bother.
In population genetics, the Hardy–Weinberg principle states that the genotype frequencies in a population remain constant or are in equilibrium from generation to generation unless specific disturbing influences are introduced. Those disturbing influences include non-random mating, new mutations, selection, random genetic drift and gene flow. Genetic equilibrium is a basic principle of population genetics.
The Hardy-Weinberg principle is like a Punnett square for populations, instead of individuals. A Punnett square can predict the probability of offspring's genotype based on parents' genotype or the offsprings' genotype can be used to reveal the parents' genotype. Likewise, the Hardy-Weinberg principle can be used to calculate the frequency of particular alleles based on frequency of, say, an autosomal recessive disease.
In the simplest case of a single locus with two alleles: the dominant allele is denoted A and the recessive a. Their frequencies are p and q; freq(A)=p and freq(a)=q. Based on the fact that the probabilities of all genotypes must sum to unity, we can determine useful, difficult-to-measure facts about a population. For example, a patient's child is a carrier of a recessive mutation that causes cystic fibrosis in homozygous recessive children. The parent wants to know the probability of her grandchildren inheriting the disease. In order to answer this question, the genetic counselor must know the chance that the child will reproduce with a carrier of the recessive mutation. This fact may not be known, but disease frequency is known. We know that the disease is caused by the homozygous recessive genotype; we can use the Hardy-Weinberg principle to work backward from disease occurrence to the frequency of heterozygous recessive individuals.
This concept is also known by a variety of names: HWP, Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium, HWE, or Hardy–Weinberg law. It was named after G. H. Hardy and Wilhelm Weinberg.