Question

The beak color of finches has a complete dominance relationship where black beaks are dominant over yellow beaks. There are 210 individuals with the genotype DD, 245 individuals with the genotype Dd and 45 individuals with the genotype dd. Find: the frequency of the dominant and recessive alleles.

Answer 1

The frequency of the dominant allele (p) can be calculated by adding the frequencies of the DD and Dd genotypes, while the frequency of the recessive allele (q) can be calculated by adding the frequencies of the Dd and dd genotypes.

Step-by-step explanation:

In genetics, the frequency of alleles in a population can be calculated using the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium equation: p² + 2pq + q² = 1, where p represents the frequency of the dominant allele and q represents the frequency of the recessive allele. In this case, since black beaks (dominant) are represented by the genotype DD and yellow beaks (recessive) are represented by the genotype dd, the frequency of the dominant allele can be calculated by adding the frequencies of the DD and Dd genotypes. Since there are 210 individuals with the genotype DD and 245 individuals with the genotype Dd, the frequency of the dominant allele (p) would be (210 + (0.5 * 245)) / (210 + 245 + 45).

Similarly, the frequency of the recessive allele (q) can be calculated by adding the frequencies of the Dd and dd genotypes. Since there are 245 individuals with the genotype Dd and 45 individuals with the genotype dd, the frequency of the recessive allele (q) would be (0.5 * 245 + 45) / (210 + 245 + 45).