Hardy-Weinberg Principle

Hardy–Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) is a null model of the relationship between allele and genotype frequencies, both inside and between generations, under assumptions of no mutation, no migration, no selection, random mating, and space population size.

From: American Trypanosomiasis Chagas Disease (Second Edition) , 2017

Genetic Variation in Populations

Robert Fifty. Nussbaum MD, FACP, FACMG , in Thompson & Thompson Genetics in Medicine , 2016

The Hardy-Weinberg Law

The Hardy-Weinberg law rests on these assumptions:

The population under study is large, and matings are random with respect to the locus in question.

Allele frequencies remain abiding over time considering of the following:

There is no appreciable rate of new mutation.

Individuals with all genotypes are equally capable of mating and passing on their genes; that is, at that place is no pick against whatsoever particular genotype.

There has been no significant immigration of individuals from a population with allele frequencies very different from the endogenous population.

A population that reasonably appears to come across these assumptions is considered to be inHardy-Weinberg equilibrium.

Hardy–Weinberg Equilibrium and Random Mating

J. Lachance , in Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology, 2016

The Hardy–Weinberg Principle

The Hardy Weinberg principle relates allele frequencies to genotype frequencies in a randomly mating population. Imagine that you have a population with two alleles (A and B) that segregate at a single locus. The frequency of allele A is denoted by p and the frequency of allele B is denoted by q. The Hardy–Weinberg principle states that after one generation of random mating genotype frequencies will exist p ii, 2pq, and q two. In the absenteeism of other evolutionary forces (such as natural option), genotype frequencies are expected to remain constant and the population is said to be at Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. The Hardy–Weinberg principle relies on a number of assumptions: (1) random mating (i.east, population structure is absent-minded and matings occur in proportion to genotype frequencies), (2) the absence of natural selection, (3) a very large population size (i.eastward., genetic drift is negligible), (4) no gene flow or migration, (5) no mutation, and (half-dozen) the locus is autosomal. When these assumptions are violated, departures from Hardy–Weinberg proportions can result.

One useful way to call up about the Hardy–Weinberg principle is to use the metaphor of a gene pool (Crow, 2001). Here, individuals contribute alleles to an infinitely large pool of gametes. In a randomly mating population without natural selection, offspring genotypes are found by randomly sampling 2 alleles from this genetic pool (1 from their mother and one from their father). Because the allele that an individual receives from their mother is contained of the allele they receive from their father, the probability of observing a item genotype is found past multiplying maternal and paternal allele frequencies. Mathematically this involves the binomial expansion: (p + q)2 = p 2 + twopq + q ii (see the modified Punnett Square in Figure 1 for a graphical representation). Annotation that there are two means that an individual can be an AB heterozygote: they can either inherit an A allele from their mother and a B allele from their father or they can inherit a B allele from their mother and an A allele from their begetter.

Figure i. Graphical representation of the Hardy–Weinberg principle. The frequency of A alleles is denoted by p and the proportion of B alleles by q. AA homozygotes are represented by white, AB heterozygotes past greyness, and BB homozygotes by gold. Shaded areas are proportional to the probability of observing each genotype.

Additional insight tin be found by considering an empirical example (Figure 2). Consider a population that initially contains xviii AA homozygotes, 4 AB heterozygotes, and 3 BB homozygotes. The alleles in the genetic pool, lxxx% are A and xx% are B. Later on a unmarried generation of random mating nosotros find Hardy–Weinberg proportions: 16 AA homozygotes, eight AB heterozygotes, and 1 BB homozygote. Note that allele frequencies remain unchanged.

Figure 2. Hardy–Weinberg example. AA homozygotes (black circles), AB heterozygotes (black and gold circles), and BB homozygotes (gold circles) contribute to the gene pool. A alleles are shown every bit black half-circles and B alleles are shown as gilded half-circles. Later a single generation of random mating Hardy–Weinberg proportions are obtained.

There are a number of evolutionary implications of the Hardy–Weinberg principle. Most chiefly, genetic variation is conserved in large, randomly mating populations. A 2d implication is that the Hardy–Weinberg principle allows 1 to make up one's mind the proportion of individuals that are carriers for a recessive allele. Third, it is important to note that ascendant alleles are non always the most common alleles in a population. Another implication of the Hardy–Weinberg principle is that rare alleles are more likely to be found in heterozygous individuals than in homozygous individuals. This occurs considering q ii is much smaller than 2pq when q is close to zilch.

The Hardy–Weinberg principle can be generalized to include polyploid organisms and genes that accept more than two segregating alleles. Equilibrium genotype frequencies are found by expanding the multinomial (p 1 ++ p k ) north , where n is the number of sets of chromosomes in a jail cell and chiliad is the number of segregating alleles. For instance, tetraploid organisms (northward = four) with two segregating alleles (g = two) are expected to take genotype frequencies of: p 1 iv (AAAA), 4p 1 3 p two (AAAB), 6p 1 two p 2 2 (AABB), ivp one p 2 3 (ABBB), and p 4 (BBBB). Similarly, diploid organisms (n = 2) with three segregating alleles (k = 3) are expected to have genotype frequencies of: p 1 2 (AA), p 2 ii (BB), p 3 2 (CC), twop ane p ii (AB), 2p one p 3 (Air conditioning), and 2p 2 p 3 (BC). Genotype frequencies sum to one for each of the in a higher place scenarios. Although the Hardy–Weinberg principle can also exist generalized to include genes located on sexual practice chromosomes (due east.yard., 10 chromosomes in humans), information technology is important to note that information technology tin can take multiple generations for genotype frequencies at sex-linked loci to attain equilibrium values.

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Genetic Variation : Its Origin and Detection

Lynn B. Jorde PhD , in Medical Genetics , 2020

The Hardy–Weinberg Principle

The example given for theMN locus presents an ideal state of affairs for gene frequency estimation because, owing to codominance, the three genotypes tin can easily be distinguished and counted. What happens when 1 of the homozygotes is indistinguishable from the heterozygote (i.e., when at that place is dominance)? Here the basic concepts of probability can be used to specify a anticipated human relationship between gene frequencies and genotype frequencies.

Imagine a locus that has two alleles, labeledA anda. Suppose that in a population we know the frequency of alleleA, which we will phone callp, and the frequency of allelea, which we will callq. From these data nosotros wish to determine the expected population frequencies of each genotype,AA, Aa, andaa. We will assume that individuals in the population mate at random with regard to their genotype at this locus(random mating is too referred to every bitpanmixia). Thus the genotype has no outcome on mate selection. If men and women mate at random, so the assumption of independence is fulfilled. This allows us to apply the addition and multiplication rules to gauge genotype frequencies.

Suppose that the frequency,p, of alleleA in our population is 0.7. This means that lxx% of the sperm cells in the population must accept alleleA, every bit must 70% of the egg cells. Considering the sum of the frequenciesp andq must be one, 30% of the egg and sperm cells must conduct allelea (i.e.,q = 0.30). Under panmixia, the probability that a sperm cell carryingA will unite with an egg cell carryingA is given by the product of the cistron frequencies:p ×p =p 2 = 0.49 (multiplication rule). This is the probability of producing an offspring with theAA genotype. Using the same reasoning, the probability of producing an offspring with theaa genotype is given byq ×q =q ii = 0.09.

What about the frequency of heterozygotes in the population? In that location are two ways a heterozygote can be formed. Either a sperm cell conveyingA tin can unite with an egg carryinga, or a sperm cell conveyinga tin can unite with an egg carryingA. The probability of each of these two outcomes is given by the product of the gene frequencies,pq. Because we want to know the overall probability of obtaining a heterozygote (i.e., the first upshot or the second), we tin use the improver rule, adding the probabilities to obtain a heterozygote frequency of 2pq. These operations are summarized inFig. iii.xxx. The human relationship between factor frequencies and genotype frequencies was established independently by Godfrey Hardy and Wilhelm Weinberg and is termed theHardy–Weinberg principle.

Introductiona

Stephen D. Cederbaum , in Emery and Rimoin's Principles and Practice of Medical Genetics and Genomics (7th Edition), 2019

2.3.5 Statistical, Formal, and Population Genetics

A cornerstone of population genetics is the Hardy–Weinberg principle, named for Godfrey Harold Hardy (1877–1947), distinguished mathematician of Cambridge Academy, and Wilhelm Weinberg (1862–1937), medico of Stuttgart, Germany, each publishing it independently in 1908. Hardy [36] was stimulated to write a short newspaper to explain why a dominant gene would not, with the passage of generations, become inevitably and progressively more than frequent. He published the newspaper in the American Journal of Scientific discipline, perhaps because he considered it a trivial contribution and would be embarrassed to publish it in a British journal.

R.A. Fisher, J.B.South. Haldane (1892–1964), and Sewall Wright (1889–1988) were the groovy triumvirate of population genetics. Sewall Wright is noted for the concept and term "random genetic drift." J.B.S. Haldane [37] (Fig. 1.9) made many contributions, including, with Julia Bong [38], the first endeavour at the quantitation of linkage of 2 human traits: color blindness and hemophilia. Fisher proposed a multilocus, closely linked hypothesis for Rh blood groups and worked on methods for correcting for the bias of ascertainment affecting segregation analysis of autosomal recessive traits.

Figure 1.9. J.B.South. Haldane with Helen Spurway and Marcello Siniscalco at the Second World Congress of Human Genetics, Rome, 1961.

To test the recessive hypothesis for fashion of inheritance in a given disorder in humans, the results of different types of matings must be observed as they are establish, rather than existence set up past blueprint. In those families in which both parents are heterozygous carriers of a rare recessive trait, the presence of the recessive gene is ofttimes not recognizable unless a homozygote is included amid the offspring. Thus, the ascertained families are a truncated sample of the whole. Furthermore, under the usual social circumstances, families with both parents heterozygous may be more probable to be ascertained if two, three, or four children are affected than they are if merely one child is affected. Corrections for these so-called biases of ascertainment were devised by Weinberg (of the Hardy–Weinberg law), Bernstein (of ABO fame), and Fritz Lenz and Lancelot Hogben (whose names are combined in the Lenz–Hogben correction), also as past Fisher, Norman Bailey, and Newton E. Morton. With the evolution of methods for identifying the presence of the recessive cistron biochemically and ultimately past analysis of the Dna itself, such corrections became less oft necessary.

Pre-1956 studies of genetic linkage in the man for the purpose of chromosome mapping are discussed later as part of a review of the history of that aspect of human being genetics.

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Population and Mathematical Genetics

Peter D. Turnpenny BSc MB ChB FRCP FRCPCH FRCPath FHEA , in Emery'south Elements of Medical Genetics and Genomics , 2022

The Hardy-Weinberg Principle

Consider an "ideal" population in which at that place is an autosomal locus with two alleles, A and a, that have frequencies of p and q, respectively. These are the only alleles establish at this locus, so that p + q=100%, or i. The frequency of each genotype in the population can be adamant past construction of a Punnett square, which shows how the different genes can combine (Fig. vii.one).

FromFig. 7.one, information technology can be seen that the frequencies of the unlike genotypes are:

Genotype Phenotype Frequency
AA A p2
Aa A 2pq
aa a q2

If there is random mating of sperm and ova, the frequencies of the different genotypes in the first generation will be equally shown. If these individuals mate with one another to produce a second generation, a Punnett square can again be used to show the unlike matings and their frequencies (Fig. 7.two).

FromFig. vii.two the full frequency for each genotype in the 2d generation can exist derived (Table seven.1 ). This shows that the relative frequency or proportion of each genotype is the same in the second generation as in the get-go. In fact, no matter how many generations are studied, the relative frequencies will remain abiding. The actual numbers of individuals with each genotype will change as the population size increases or decreases, but their relative frequencies or proportions remain constant—the primal tenet of the Hardy-Weinberg principle. When epidemiological studies confirm that the relative proportions of each genotype remain constant with frequencies of p2, 2pq and q2, and so that population is said to be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for that particular genotype.

Fundamentals of Complex Trait Genetics and Clan Studies

Jahad Alghamdi , Sandosh Padmanabhan , in Handbook of Pharmacogenomics and Stratified Medicine, 2014

12.3.i.1 Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium

In 1908, two scientists—Godfrey H. Hardy, an English mathematician, and Wilhelm Weinberg, a German doctor—independently worked out a mathematical relationship that related genotypes to allele frequencies called the Hardy-Weinberg principle, a crucial concept in population genetics. Information technology predicts how gene frequencies volition exist inherited from generation to generation given a specific set up of assumptions. When a population meets all the Hardy-Weinberg conditions, information technology is said to be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE). Human populations do not come across all the conditions of HWE exactly, and their allele frequencies volition alter from one generation to the adjacent, then the population evolves. How far a population deviates from HWE can be measured using the "goodness-of-fit" or chi-squared test (χ2) (Encounter Box 12.4).

Box 12.iv

Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium

The distribution of genotypes in a population in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium tin be graphically expressed as shown in the accompanying graph. The ten-axis represents a range of possible relative frequencies of A or B alleles. The coordinates at each bespeak on the three genotype lines show the expected proportion of each genotype at that particular starting frequency of A and B.

To bank check for HWE:

Consider a single biallelic locus with two alleles A and B with known frequencies (allele A   =   0.vi; allele B   =   0.4) that add up to 1.

Possible genotypes: AA, AB and BB

Presume that alleles A and B enter eggs and sperm in proportion to their frequency in the population (i.e., 0.6 and 0.4)

Assume that the sperm and eggs run into at random (one large genetic pool).

Summate the genotype frequencies as follows:

The probability of producing an individual with an AA genotype is the probability that an egg with an A allele is fertilized past a sperm with an A allele, which is 0.6   ×   0.vi or 0.36 (the probability that the sperm contains A times the probability that the egg contains A).

Similarly, the frequency of individuals with the BB genotype can be calculated (0.4   ×   04   =   0.sixteen).

The frequency of individuals with the AB genotype is calculated by the probability that the sperm contains the A allele (0.half-dozen) times the probability that the egg contains the B allele (0.4), and the probability that the sperm contains the B allele (0.vi) times the probability that the egg contains the A allele. Thus, the probability of AB individuals is (ii   ×   0.4   ×   0.6   =   0.48).

Genotypes of the next generation can be given as shown in the accompanying table.

Allele Allele Frequency Genotype Frequency Counts for 1000
A (p) 0.six AA 0.36 360
B (q) 0.4 AB 0.48 480
General formula of HW equation: p2  +   2pq   +   q2  =   1 BB 0.sixteen 160
Total i yard

The conclusions from HWE are follows:

Allele frequencies in a population do not change from ane generation to the adjacent just as the outcome of array of alleles and zygote formation.

If the allele frequencies in a gene puddle with two alleles are given past p and q, the genotype frequencies is given by p2, 2pq, and q2.

The HWE principle identifies the forces that can cause evolution.

If a population is not in HWE, one or more of the five assumptions is being violated.

Thus, HWE is based on five assumptions:

Random selection: When individuals with certain genotypes survive better than others, allele frequencies may modify from 1 generation to the next.

No mutation: If new alleles are produced by mutation or if alleles mutate at different rates, allele frequencies may modify from one generation to the side by side.

No migration: Move of individuals in or out of a population alters allele and genotype frequencies.

No chance events: Luck plays no role in HWE. Eggs and sperm collide at the same frequencies as the actual frequencies of p and q. When this assumption is violated and by risk some individuals contribute more alleles than others to the side by side generation, allele frequencies may change. This mechanism of allele alter is called genetic drift.

Individuals select mates at random: If this assumption is violated, allele frequencies practise change, but genotype frequencies may.

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Underdominance

F.A. Reed , ... P.M. Altrock , in Brenner's Encyclopedia of Genetics (Second Edition), 2013

Evolutionary Dynamics

Unstable Equilibrium

At an equilibrium, the allele frequency does not change over time. An equilibrium is stable if small perturbations lead back to information technology. It is unstable if small perturbations lead away, typically toward other, stable equilibria. Heritable fettle differences are expected to lead to evolutionary change in a population over time, driven past natural selection. In the case of underdominance, heterozygotes are expected to produce fewer offspring in the following generation, corresponding to the fettle disadvantage. According to the Hardy–Weinberg principle (random pairing of alleles), alleles that are rare in a population (low starting frequency) are most ofttimes paired with alleles of some other blazon, resulting in a heterozygous genotype. Thus, underdominance is expected to consequence in a disadvantage of rare alleles, which tend to be removed from the population by natural choice. However, the same alleles can go on to fixation in a population if they occur as homozygotes sufficiently oftentimes, which requires a loftier starting frequency. In that location is an unstable equilibrium frequency that divides these two regimes. The direction of option in underdominance is thus opposite of the one in overdominance, which is characterized by a stable polymorphic equilibrium frequency (come across Figure 2 ).

Effigy 2. Evolution of the frequency of allele A of a unmarried-locus 2-allele system with underdominance. For simplification, an infinitely big population with random mating is causeless. The fitness of AA homozygotes is 0.9 and the fettle of BB homozygotes is i. Heterozygotes accept a relative fitness disadvantage of 0.45 (as illustrated in the inset). Trajectories are shown for the five initial allele frequencies 0.2, 0.4, 0.55, 0.six, and 0.viii. For the outset two initial conditions, A goes extinct. For the last two initial conditions, A proceeds to fixation. In this instance, 0.55 is exactly the unstable equilibrium allele frequency; small deviations, for case, caused by demographic racket, atomic number 82 away from it.

Geographic Stability

A geographically stable blueprint can sally when dissimilar alleles leading to underdominance in heterozygotes become established in different populations. Consider 2 island populations that exchange a small number of migrant individuals. On the first isle, the AA genotype is at high frequency. On the second island, the BB genotype is at loftier frequency. If migrants are rare, they tend to mate with the reverse genotype producing less fit heterozygotes in the following generation, which will be removed past natural selection. This can result in a migration–pick equilibrium where the difference in allele frequencies between the two populations is maintained by selection as long every bit migration rates are beneath disquisitional levels. If migration rates are too high, the two island populations substantially reduce to a unmarried mixed population, which can only maintain one of the alleles that are in underdominance with each other.

Mutations that can consequence in underdominance, once established locally, are not necessarily expected to spread nor to exist lost. This may provide a footing for other selective forces to deed, such equally mate pick, to strengthen the genetic division betwixt populations.

Part in Speciation

Early, chromosomal rearrangements resulting in underdominance were appreciated equally a possible mechanism to drive the early stages of speciation. This effect is referred to as 'chromosomal speciation'. The hypothesis later fell out of favor: it was realized that a new (and thus rare and often heterozygous) underdominant mutation reaching high frequency in an initial population is exceedingly improbable with increasing fitness disadvantage. Several possible effects have been proposed to help alleviate this, such as meiotic bulldoze of chromosomal rearrangements, or fitness advantages associated with the new allele, just the strength and frequency of these boosted effects remained unclear. However, potentially underdominant chromosomal rearrangements do accumulate quickly (on an evolutionary timescale) between closely related species. Hence, in that location must be some mechanism for these changes to become established at high frequency in a population. Some species of flies practise non show fitness reduction in individuals with chromosomal inversions that are expected to be underdominant, because recombination appears to exist suppressed. Recently, it has likewise been found that translocations affect expression patterns of genes across the genome. This provides the potential for (perhaps locally adaptive) fettle differences that are associated with a chromosomal rearrangement to simultaneously appear with a barrier to factor flow. This could help resurrect chromosomal speciation hypotheses. Recent piece of work has also focused on the self-organizing furnishings of many loci with weak underdominance, which have a higher individual likelihood of attaining higher frequencies.

Applications

The field of genetic pest management is focused on using genetic techniques to command or alter populations in the wild. A subset of this field seeks to utilize the effects of underdominance in ii, non mutually exclusive, ways. In the first example, the aim is to suppress wild populations by producing big numbers of heterozygotes after releases of large numbers of individuals carrying alternative alleles. The second approach builds on genetically transforming wild populations with desirable alleles: affliction resistance acquired by an effector gene tin exist linked to an underdominant drive mechanism. Early piece of work to establish underdominance in fly species essentially failed, because the genetically altered homozygotes were as well unfit to exist competitive in the wild. However, new approaches and techniques may allow underdominance to be used to transform wild populations in a manner that is non only geographically stable, but besides potentially reversible to the original wild-blazon state.

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Biology/Dna

A. Amorim , in Encyclopedia of Forensic Sciences (Second Edition), 2013

Genetic Theory and Probabilities

The foundations of the genetic theory take been laid about 150 years ago by Gregor Mendel. The field of awarding is limited to characteristics, or observation units (from classical traits such as color or form, to the outputs of technologically sophisticated methods such every bit electrophoresis or mass spectrometry) for which the population under study shows discontinuous variation (i.e., the individuals appear as grouped into discrete classes, called phenotypes). The theory assumes that for each of these characteristics, a pair of genetic information units exists in each private (genotype), just simply one is transmitted to each offspring at a time with equal probability (1/2). Then, for nonhermaphroditic sexually reproducing populations, each member inherits one of these genetic factors (alleles) paternally and the other one maternally; in example of both alleles are of the same blazon, the private is said to be a homozygote, and heterozygote in the instance the alleles are distinct. The theory further assumes that for each of the observable units (or Mendelian characteristics), at that place is a genetic decision instance (a genetic locus; plural: loci) where the alleles have place and that the manual of information belonging to different loci and governing, therefore, distinct characteristics is independent. It is now known that for some characteristics, the mode of manual is more unproblematic and that not every pair of loci is transmitted independently, but the hereditary rules outlined above apply to the vast majority of cases.

These rules allow usa to predict the possible genotypes and their probabilities in the offspring knowing the parents' genotypes or to infer parents' genotypes given the offspring distributions. These predictions or inferences are not limited to cases where data on relatives is available. In fact, before long after the 'rediscovery' of Mendel's piece of work, a generalization of the theory from the familial to the population level was undertaken embodied in what is at present known as the Hardy–Weinberg principle. This formalism states that if an platonic space population with random mating is assumed, and in the absence of mutation, selection, and migration, the squared summation of the allele frequencies equals the genotype distribution. That is, if at a certain locus, the frequencies of alleles A1 and A2 are f1 and f2, respectively, the expected frequency of the heterozygote A1A2 volition be f1   ×   f2   +   f2   ×   f1   =   2f1f2 (note that 'A1A2' and 'A2A1' are duplicate and are collectively represented by convention simply as A1A2); conversely, if the frequency of the homozygote for A1 is f1, the allele frequency would be the square root of this frequency (because the expected frequency of this genotype is f1   ×   f1).

In guild to use this theoretical framework to judicial matters, it must be articulate that 'forensics' implies conflict, a divergence of opinion, which formally translates into the existence of (at least) two culling explanations for the aforementioned fact. In the simplest state of affairs, the evidence is explained to the courtroom equally (1) beingness acquired past the suspect (the prosecution hypothesis) or, alternatively, (ii) resulting from the activity of someone else, according to the defense.

In order to understand how genetic expertise can provide means to differently evaluate the prove under these hypotheses, a brief digression into the mathematics and statistics involved is therefore required. The first essential concept to exist divers is probability itself. The probability of a specific event is the frequency of that event, or in more than formal terms, probability of an event is the ratio of the number of cases favorable to information technology, to the number of all cases possible. It is a convenient mode to summarize quantitatively our previous experience on a specific example and allows us to forecast the likelihood of its future occurrence. Simply this is not the result at pale when we move to the forensic scenario – the issue has occurred (both litigants agree upon that) but at that place is a disagreement on the causes behind it, meaning that the same event can have unlike probabilities co-ordinate to its causation.

Let u.s.a. suppose that a biological sample (a hair, organic fluid, etc.) not belonging to the victim is establish in a homicide scene. When typed for a specific locus, it shows the genotype '19', likewise as the suspect (provider of a 'reference sample'). If allele 19 frequency in the population is i/100, the probability of finding by take a chance such a genotype is thus 1/10   000. Therefore, nether the prosecutor'due south hypothesis (the crime scene sample was left by the doubtable), the probability of this type of observations (P|H1) is 1/10   000. While assuming the defense force caption (the crime scene sample was left by someone else), the probability of the aforementioned observations (P|H2) would be 1/10   000   ×   1/x   000. In determination, the likelihood ratio takes the value of 10   000 (to 1), which means that the occurrence of such an issue is x   000 times more likely if both samples accept originated from the same individual than resulting from two singled-out persons (once again provided the doubtable does non accept an identical twin). Note that this likelihood ratio is frequently referred equally 'probability of identity,' although it is not a probability in the strict sense.

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GENETIC Analysis

Raphael Falk , in Philosophy of Biological science, 2007

7 POPULATION GENETICS UPHOLDS DARWINISM

Mendel's hypothesis of inheritance of discrete factors that are not diluted should take resolved a major difficulty that Darwin encountered. Before long after the publication of his Origin of Species, in 1867, Fleeming Jenkins showed that, adopting Darwin's theory of inheritance past mixing pangenes, would wash out any accomplishment of natural choice (see Hull [1973, 302-350]). Hugo de Vries and peculiarly William Bateson, considered Mendel'due south Faktoren as indicated by his hypothesis of inheritance to provide a rational basis for the theory of evolution. Although equally early on as in 1902 Yule showed that, given pocket-size enough steps of variation, the Mendelian model reduces to the biometric claim [Yule, 1902], this was largely ignored in the bitter disputes between the Mendelians and the Biometricians [Provine, 1971], (meet Tabery [2004]). Hardy's [1908] proof that in a large population, the proportion of heterozygotes to homozygotes will attain equilibrium after one generation of random mating (provided no mutation or selection interfered), developed in the same twelvemonth by Weinberg [Stern, 1943 ], became the bones theorem of population genetics — the Hardy-Weinberg principle. It took, even so, some other decade for R. A. Fisher to convince that the continuous phenotypic biometric variation reduces to the Mendelian model of polygenes [ Fisher, 1918]. Thus, finally the style was cleared to examine the Darwinian theory of natural evolution on the ground of Mendelian genetic assay, not only in vivo but also in papyro. As formulated by Fisher in his fundamental theorem of natural pick: "The rate of increase in fitness of whatsoever organism at any time is equal to its genetic variance in fettle at that time" [Fisher, 1930, 37].

Whereas Fisher examined primarily the effects of pick of alleles of single genes in indefinitely large population nether the assumption of differences in genotypic fitness, J. B. Southward. Haldane concentrated on the bear on of mutations on the rate and direction of evolution of ane or few genes (and the influence of population size) [Haldane, 1990]. Sewall Wright in his models of the dynamics of populations wished to exist more than "realistic", and stressed the influence of finite population size, the limited gene flow betwixt subpopulations, and the heterogeneity of the habitats in which the population and its subpopulations lived [Wright, 1986].

Experimentally, the main British group, led past E. B. Ford adopted a strict Mendelian reductionist arroyo, emphasizing largely the effects of selection on single alleles of specific genes (the development of industrial melanism in moths, the evolution of mimicry in African moth species, the evolution of seasonal polymorphisms in snails, etc.). The American geneticists, specially Dobzhansky and his school, full-bodied more on bug of whole genotypes, such as speciation (Sturtevant) and chromosomal polymorphisms (Dobzhansky) in Drosophila.

The triumph of reductionist Mendelism was at the 1940s with the emergence of the "New Synthesis" that divers natural populations and the forces that affect their development in terms of factor alleles' frequencies [Huxley, 1943]. This notion dominated population genetics for the adjacent decades. Attempts to emphasize the office of non-genetic constraints, such as the anatomical-physiological factors (e.g. by Goldschmidt [1940]), or the environmental (and evolutionary-historical) constraints (for example past Waddington [1957]) were largely overlooked.

The introduction of the analysis of electrophoretic polymorphisms [Hubby and Lewontin, 1966; Lewontin and Married man, 1966] allowed a molecular analysis of allele variation that was besides largely independent of the classical morphological and functional genetic markers (see also Lewontin [1991]). Although genes were still treated as algebraic point entities, inter-genic interacting system, such equally "linkage disequilibrium" were considered [Lewontin and Kojima, 1960]. The New Synthesis was, yet, seriously challenged when it was realized that a great bargain of the variation at the molecular level was determined past stochastic processes, rather than because of differences in fettle [Kimura, 1968; King and Jukes, 1969].

This assault on the notion of the New Synthesis was intensified when, in 1972 Gould and Eldridge, two paleontologists, suggested a model of evolution by "punctuated equilibrium", or long periods of piffling evolutionary change interspersed with (geologically) relatively short period of fast evolutionary change. Moreover, in the periods of (relatively) fast development large one-step "macromutational" changes were established [Eldredge and Gould, 1972]. Although it could be shown that analytically the claims of punctuated equilibrium could be reduced to those of classical population genetics [Charlesworth et al., 1982], these ideas demanded re-examination of the developmental conceptions that, as a rule, could not take one-step major developmental changes since these chosen for disturbance in many systems and hence would have caused severe disturbances in developmental and reproductive coordination.

The demand to reexamine the reductionist assumptions of genetic population analysis and to pay more consideration to constraints on the genetic determinations of intra- and extra-organismal factors coincided with the resurrection of developmental genetics. However, the major change in the analysis of development and development came from the molecular perspective. These allowed first of all detailed upwardly analysis, from the specific DNA sequences to the early on products, rather than the analyses based on end-of-developmental pathway markers. However, arguably, the most significant evolution was the possibility of in-vitro Dna hybridization. This molecular extension of genetic analysis sensu stricto finally overcame the empirical impossibility to study (most) in vivo interspecific hybrids. The new methods of DNA hybridization had no taxonomic inhibitions whatsoever, and soon hybrid Deoxyribonucleic acid molecules of, say mosquito, human and establish, were common subjects for research. Genetic engineering, which allowed straight genetic comparison between whatsoever species and the transfer of genes from one species to individuals of another, unrelated species, prompted the genetic assay of the evolution of developmental process, or evo-devo.

Molecular genetic assay of homeotic mutants, in which one organ is transformed into the likeness of some other, usually a homologous one, revealed stretches of DNA that were nearly identical in other genes with homeotic furnishings (like the homeobox of some 180 nucleotides, that announced to be involved in when-and-where item groups of genes are expressed forth the embryo centrality during development [McGinnis et al., 1984a; McGinnis et al., 1984b]). The method of determining homologies by comparing Deoxyribonucleic acid sequences is present washed mainly in silico. Equally suggested many years ago [Ohno, 1970], the abundance of homologous sequences in the same species genome (paralogous sequence that do not necessarily share similar functions any more) or in different species (orthologous sequences that 'usually' have similar functions in different species), indicate that the organisation's structural and functional organization have been also causal factors rather than just consequences in the history of the process of evolution.

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FORMALISATIONS OF EVOLUTIONARY Biological science

Paul Thompson , in Philosophy of Biology, 2007

3.2 Formalisation in Population Genetics

The phenomenon of heredity, although widely accepted since at least the Greco-Roman flow, is extremely complex and an adequate theory proved allusive for several grand years. Indeed, features of heredity seemed almost magical. Breeders from antiquity had a sophisticated understanding of the effects of selective breeding just fifty-fifty the most achieved breeders found many aspects of heredity to be arbitrary. Even Darwin in the eye 19th century knew well the techniques of selective convenance (artificial selection) but did not have available a satisfactory theory of heredity when he published the Origin of Species [1859]. Although, he realized that his theory of evolution depended on heredity, he was unable to provide an account of it. Instead, he relied on the widely known effects of artificial selection and by analogy postulated the effects of natural selection in which the alternative of breeders was replaced past forces of nature.

The first major advance came from the simple experiments and mathematical description of the dynamics of heredity by Gregor Mendel [1865]. Although Mendel'southward work went largely unnoticed until the beginning of the xxth century, its great strength lay in its mathematical clarification — simple though that clarification was. Mendel performed a number of experiments which provided important data but information technology was his elementary mathematical clarification of the underlying dynamics that has had a lasting impact on genetics. His dynamics were elementary. He postulated that a phenotypic characteristic (feature of organisms) is the result of the combination of two "factors" in the hereditary material of the organism. Dissimilar characteristics are acquired past different combinations. Focusing on one characteristic at a fourth dimension made the problem of heredity tractable. Factors could exist dominant or recessive. If two ascendant factors combined, the organism would manifest the characteristic controlled by that factor. If a dominant and a recessive factor combined, the organism would manifest the characteristic of the ascendant factor (that is the sense in which it is dominant). If two recessive factors combine, the organism will manifest the characteristic of the recessive factor.

Mendel postulated two principles (often now referred to as Mendel's laws): a principle of segregation and a principal of contained assortment. The principle of segregation states that the factors in a combination will segregate (split up) in the production of gametes. That is gametes will contain just 1 factor from a combination. The principle of independent assortment states that the factors do not blend merely remain distinct entities and there is no influence of one factor over the other in segregation. The central principle is the law of segregation. The law of contained assortment tin be folded into the police of segregation every bit function of the definition of segregation. When gametes come together in a fertilised ovum (a zygote), a new combination is fabricated.

Assume A is a dominant factor and a is a recessive factor. Three combinations are possible AA, Aa and aa. Mendel's experimental work involved breeding AA plants and aa plants. He then crossed the plants which produced only Aa plants. He then bred the Aa plants. What resulted was .25AA, .5Aa and .25aa. His dynamics explains this result. Since the factors A and a do non alloy and they segregate in the gametes and combine again in the zygote, the results are fully explained. Crossing the AA plants with aa plants will yield only Aa plants:

Breeding only Aa plants volition yield the .25:.five:.25 ratios:

Two of four cells yield Aa that is .5 of the possible combinations. Each of AA and aa occupy only one jail cell in four, that is, .25 of the possible combinations. In gimmicky population genetics, Mendel'southward factors are called alleles. The location on the chromosome where a pair of alleles is located is chosen a locus. Onetime the term gene is used every bit a synonym for allele but this usage is far likewise loose. Subsequently, I volition explore the confusion, complication and controversy over the definition of "gene." Mendel's dynamics assumed diallelic loci: two alleles per locus. His dynamics are hands extended to cases where each locus has many alleles any two of which could occupy the locus.

The basic features of Mendel'south dynamics were modified and extended early in the xxth century. 1000. Udny Yule [1902] was among the first to explore the implications of Mendel'southward system for populations. In a verbal exchange betwixt Yule and R. C. Punnett in 1908, Yule asserted that a novel ascendant allele arising amidst a 100% recessive alleles would inexorably increment in frequency until it accomplish 50%. Punnett assertive Yule to be wrong but unable to provide a proof, took the problem to G. H. Hardy. Hardy, a mathematician, quickly produced a proof past using variables where Yule had used specific allelic frequencies. In outcome, he developed a simple mathematical model. He published his results in 1908. What emerged from the proof was a principle that became central to population genetics, namely, after the first generation, allelic frequencies would remain the same for all subsequent generations; an equilibrium would be reached subsequently just one generation. As well in 1908, Wilhelm Weinberg published like results and articulated the aforementioned principle (the original paper is in German, and English translation is in Boyer [1963 ]). Hence, the principle is known as the Hardy-Weinberg principle or the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. 37 In parallel with these mathematical advances was a confirmation of the phenomenon of segregation and recombination in the new field of cytology.

Building on this early work, a sophisticated mathematical model of the complex dynamics of heredity emerged during the 1920s and 1930s, principally through the work of John Haldane [1924; 1931; 1932], Ronald Fisher [1930] and Sewall Wright [1931; 1932]. What has become modern population genetics began during this period. From that period, the dynamics of heredity in populations has been studied from within a mathematical framework. 38

As previously indicated, one of the primal principles of the theory of population genetics, in the course of a mathematical model, is the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium. Similar Newton'southward Offset Police, this principle of equilibrium states that later the start generation if nothing changes so allelic (gene) frequencies volition remain constant. The presence of a principle(s) of equilibrium in the dynamics of a system is of fundamental importance. It defines the conditions under which nix volition alter. All changes, therefore, require the identification of cause(s) of the change. Newton's dynamics of motility include an equilibrium principle that states that in absence of unbalanced forces an object will continue in uniform movement or at rest. Hence acceleration, deceleration, change of direction all require the presence of an unbalanced force. In population genetics, in the absence of some perturbing factor, allelic frequencies at a locus will not change. Factors such every bit choice, mutation, meiotic drive, and migration are all perturbing factors. Like many complex systems, population genetics also has a stochastic perturbing force, commonly call random genetic drift.

In what follows, the key features of the mathematical model of contemporary population genetic theory are set out. Quite naturally, the exposition begins with the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium. It is useful to begin with the exploration of a one locus, two-allele system. In anticipation, however, of multi allelic loci, we switch from A and a to 'A 1' and 'A2'. Hence, co-ordinate to the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium, if in that location are ii dissimilar alleles 'A1' and 'Atwo' at a locus and the ratio in generation ane is A1:A2 = p: q, and if there are no perturbing factors, then in generation 2, and in all subsequent generations, the alleles will be distributed:

( p 2 ) A 1 A 1 : ( 2 p q ) A 1 A ii : ( q 2 ) A 2 A 2 .

The ratio of p: q is normalised by requiring that p + q = one. Hence, q =1 — p and 1 — p tin be substituted for q at all occurrences. The proof of this equilibrium is remarkably only.

The boxes contain zygote frequencies. In the upper left box, the frequency of the zygote arising from the combination of an A ane sperm and A 1 egg is p × p, or p two, since the initial frequency of A 1 is p. In the upper right box, the frequency of the zygote arising from the combination of an A two sperm and A 1 egg is p × q, or pq, since the initial frequency of an A two is q and the initial frequency of A one is p.

Sperm

fr(A ane) = p fr(A 2) = p
Ova fr(A 1) = p fr(A 1A1) = p ii fr(AtwoA 1) = pq
fr(A 2) = P fr(A i A ii) = pq fr(AiiA2) = q2

The lower left box also yields a pq frequency for an A 1 A 2. Since the order doesn't matter, A2A1 is the same as A1Aii and hence the sum of frequencies is 2pq.

This proves that a population with A one: Atwo = p:q in an initial generation will in the next generation have a frequency distribution: (ptwo)AiAane: (2pq)AoneAii: (qii)A2A2. The second step is to prove that this distribution is an equilibrium in the absence of perturbing factors. Given the frequency distribution (ptwo)AiAi: (2pq)A1Aii: (q2)A2Atwo, p2 of the alleles will exist A i and half of the A ane A2 combination will be Aone, that is pq. Hence, there will be p 2 + (pq)Ai in this subsequent generation. Since q = (i — p), nosotros can substitute (ane — p) for q, yielding p2 + (p(1 – p)) = p2 + (p – p2) = p. Since the frequency of A 1 in this generation is the same every bit in the initial generation (i.eastward., p), the aforementioned frequency distribution volition occur in the following generation (i.due east., (p2)A1A1: (2pq)AaneA2: (qii)A2A2).

Consequently, if there are no perturbing factors, the frequency of alleles after the first generation will remain constant. Simply, of form, in that location are always perturbing factors. Ane primal one for Darwinian evolution is selection. Choice tin be added to the dynamics by introducing a coefficient of selection. For each genotype (combination of alleles at a locus 39 ) a fitness value can exist assigned. Abstractly, A1A1 has a fitness of W xi, A1A2 has a fitness of West12, and A2Atwo has a fitness of W22. Hence, the ratios after selection will be:

W 11 ( p 2 ) A 1 A 1 : W 12 ( 2 p q ) A 1 A 2 : W 22 ( q two ) A 2 A two .

To calculate the ratio p: q after selection this ratio has to be normalised to make p + q =1. To do this, the average fettle, w, is calculated. The boilerplate fitness is the sum of the individual fitnesses.

w ¯ = w 11 ( p ii ) + west 12 ( 2 p q ) + w 22 ( q two ) .

So each factor in the ratio is divided by w, to yield:

( ( due west 11 ( p two ) ) / w ¯ ) A one A 1 : ( ( w 12 ( ii p q ) / w ¯ ) A 1 A 2 : ( ( w 22 ( q ii ) / w ¯ ) A 2 A 2 . ) )

Other factors such equally meiotic bulldoze can be added either as additional parameters in the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium or every bit divide ratios or equations.

Against this background, a precise application of a X 2-test of goodness of fit tin be provided. The following example xl illustrates the decision the goodness of fit between observed data and the expected data based on the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The human chemokine receptor 41 gene CC-CKR-5codes for a major macrophage co-receptor for the homo immunodeficiency virus HIV-1. CC-CKR-five is office of the receptor construction that allows the entry of HIV-one into macrophages and T-cells. In rare individuals, a 32-base of operations-pair indel 42 results in a non-functional variant of CC-CKR-v. This variant of CC-CKR-v has a 32-base of operations-pair deletion from the coding region. This results in a frame shift and truncation of the translated poly peptide. The indel results when an individual is homozygous for the allele Δ32 43 . These individuals are strongly resistant to HIV-ane; the variant CC-CKR-five co-receptor blocks the entry of the virus into macrophages and T-cells.

In a sample of Parisians studied for non-deletion and deletion (+ and Δ32 respectively), Lucotte and Mercier (1998) found the following genotypes:

++: 224 + Δ32: 64 Δ32Δ32: half-dozen

Dividing past the populations sample size yields the genotype frequencies:

++: 224/294 = 0.762 + Δ32: 64/294 = 0.218 Δ32Δ32: half-dozen/994 = 0.xx

Multiplying the number of homozygotes for an allele by 2 and adding the number of heterozygotes yields the number of that allele in the sample. Dividing that past the sample size times 2 (there are twice as many alleles as individuals) yields the allelic frequency of this sample. Hence:

The frequency of the + allele = 0.871

The frequency of the Δ32 allele = 0.129

What genotype numbers does the hardy-Weinberg equilibrium yield given these allelic frequencies?

( p ii ) + + : ( ii p q ) + Δ 32 : ( q 2 ) Δ 32 Δ 32 Yields ( 0 .871 2 ) + + : ( 2 ( 0.871 X 0.129 ) ) + Δ 32 : ( 0.129 2 ) Δ 32 Δ 32 = 0.758641 + + : 0.224718 + Δ 32 : 0.016641 Δ 32 Δ 32

Hence, in a population of 294 individuals, the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium yields:

+ + : 22.9 + Δ 32 : 66.2 Δ 32 Δ 32 : iv.9

Equally we would expect these add together up to 294. A comparison of the values expected based on the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and those observed yields:

H - D expected : + + : 222 .9 + Δ 32 : 66 .two Δ 32 Δ 32 : four .ix Observed : + + : 224 + Δ 32 : 64 Δ 32 Δ 32 : 6

Now we can ask, how good is the fit between the H-D expected values based on the specified allelic frequencies and the observed values?

The X ii-test is:

X 2 = Σ (observed quantity – expected quantity)two/(expected quantity) There are three genotypes, hence:

X2 = ((224 – 222.ix)ii/222.9) + ((64 – 66.2)ii/66.two) + ((6 – four.nine)ii/4.9)
= (1.21/222.ix) + (4.84/66.2) + (i.21/4.9)
= 0.00543 + 0.0731 + 0.2469
= 0.3254

To use this result to assess goodness of fit, it is necessary to determine the degrees of freedom for the test.

Degrees of Freedom (df) = (classes of data – 1) – the number of parameters estimated.

Since there are iii genotypes, the classes of information is 3. Since p + q = one(hence, q is a part of p; they are not independent parameters), at that place is only 1 parameter existence estimated. Hence, the degrees of liberty for this test is:

Using the X 2 result and 1 degree of freedom allows a probability value to be determined.

In this case, the relevant probability is 0.63. This is the probability that take chances lonely could accept produced the discrepancy between the H-D expected values and the observed values. Since we are measuring the probability that take chances solitary could accept produced the discrepancy (non to exist dislocated with the similarity between the 2 44 ), the higher the probability, the more robust i's confidence that at that place are no factors other than chance causing the discrepancy and, hence, that in that location is a good fit between the values expected based on the model and the observed values 45 ; any discrepancy is a function of chance lone.

The elementary framework sketched in a higher place has been expanded to include the Wright-Fisher model of Random Migrate, mutations, inbreeding and other causes of non-random convenance, migration speciation, multiple alleles at a locus, multi-loci systems, phenotypic plasticity, etc. One important expansion relates to interdemic selection.

The business relationship and then far describes intrademic pick. That is, selection of individuals within an interbreeding population — a deme. Nonetheless, the mathematical model also permits the exploration of interdemic selection (choice between genetically isolated populations) using adaptive landscapes. One issue of such explorations is a sophisticated account of why and how populations reach sub-maximal, sub-optimal peaks of fitness. Richard Lewontin, building on concepts set out by Sewell Wright, provided the first mathematical clarification of this phenomenon.

Consider a population genetic organisation with ii loci and two alleles (hither for simplicity I revert to upper and lower case letter for alleles and for dominance and recessiveness). The possible combinations of alleles is:

AB Ab aB ab
AB AABB AABb AaBB AaBb
Ab AABb AAbb AaBb Aabb
aB AaBB AaBb aaBB aaBb
ab AabBb Aabb aaBb aabb

There are 9 different combinations (genotypes). For each genotype a fitness co-efficient Wi can be assigned. In addition, for each genotype a frequency tin be assigned based on pone and q1, p2 and q2 (for locus 1 and locus 2 respectively). Allow that frequency be Zi. The production of the frequency of a genotype and the fettle of that genotype is the contribution to the boilerplate fitness of the population w made by that genotype. The sum of the contributions of all the genotypes represented in the population is the average fitness w ¯ of the population. Hence, the average fettle westward ¯ for a population

Consider the post-obit adding for a unmarried population.

Since p1 + qi = 1 and pii + q2 = 1, the value of q can exist determined from the value of p. Hence the value of p lone is sufficient to determine the genotype frequencies of the population.

In accordance with the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, the genotype frequencies tin be calculated by multiplying the frequencies of the allelic combinations at each locus in the 2 loci pair. The resulting frequencies with assigned fitnesses, frequency-fitnesses, and the average fitness for the population is shown in the following table:

Genotype Frequency Z Fitness Due west Frequencey × Fitness
AABB 0.784 0.85 0.06664
AABb 0.23522 . 0.48 0.108192
AAbb 0.1764 0.54 095256
AaBB 0.0672 0.87 0.058484
AaBb 0.2016 0.65 0.13104
Aabb 0.1512 0.32 0.048384
aaBB 0.0144 0.61 0.008784
aaBb 0.0432 i.2 0.05184
aabb 0.0324 one.thirteen 0.036612
due west = 0.605212

Past plotting the average fitness w ¯ of each possible population in a two loci organization with the assigned fitness values Due westi, an adaptive landscape for the organisation can be generated. This adaptive landscape is a 3 dimensional phase space (a organization with a larger number of loci will have a correspondingly larger dimensionality):

The plotted bespeak is the average fitness of the population described above. A complete adaptive landscape is a surface with adaptive peaks and valleys. An actual population under choice may climb a gradient to an adaptive peak that is sub maximal (i.eastward., the average fitness of the population is less than the highest average fitness in the organization). The only style to movement to some other slope which leads to a more maximal or maximal average fettle is to descend from the peak. This involves evolving in a direction of reduced average fitness that is opposed by stabilizing selection. Hence, the population is stuck on the top at a sub maximal average fitness. When several populations are on different sub-maximal boilerplate fitness peaks, selection between populations (interdemic selection) can act.

This population genetic clarification has been used extensively to explain situations which cannot exist explained in terms of intrademic option. For example, body size which may have high individual fettle, and hence is selected for within a population, can reduce the fitness of the population by causing it to achieve a sub maximal boilerplate fettle and exit information technology open to interdemic selection.

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