Question

What is disturbance in Hardy-Weinberg genetic equilibrium indicative of? Explain how it is caused.

Answer 1

Hardy-Weinberg genetic equilibrium states that allele and genotype frequencies in a population will always remain constant from generation to generation in the absence of other evolutionary influences.

Complete answer:
The disturbance in Hardy-Weinberg genetic equilibrium is indicative of mutation or evolution. This disturbance can be caused due to calamity or genetic drift.
Hardy-Weinberg principle is a basic principle of population genetics which was first described in 1908 independently by G. H. Hardy and Wilhelm Weinberg. When a population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for a gene, it is not evolving and hence, the allele frequencies (refers to how frequently a particular allele appears in a population) will remain constant across different generations.

Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is based on five assumptions:
-Mutation is absent: This means that neither new allele is generated by mutation nor genes are duplicated or deleted.
-Mating is random: Organisms mate randomly with each other without any preference for particular genotypes.
-There is no gene flow: This means that neither individuals nor gametes enter or exit the population.
-Population size is infinite.
-Natural selection is absent: This implies that all alleles confer equal fitness.
If any of these assumptions for a gene is not met then Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium will fail and the population may evolve for a gene or there will be a change in allele frequency.

Note: Hardy-Weinberg equation can be used to estimate the frequency of alleles in a population. For a population in genetic equilibrium:
$\Rightarrow$ $p + q = 1$i.e., the sum of both the alleles is$100\%$
Where, $p =$frequency of the dominant allele; $q =$frequency of the recessive allele.