MCAT Biology : Population Genetics and Hardy-Weinberg

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for MCAT Biology

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Example Questions

Example Question #1172 : Mcat Biological Sciences

A rare recessive mutation causes rabbits that are normally white to be pink. If one out of every 625 rabbits is pink, what percentage of the population is heterozygous?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

We can use the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium formulas to calculate the allele frequencies.

We know that the frequency of homozygous recessive (pink) rabbits is . This is equal to  in the Hardy-Weinberg calculation. We can use this information to solve for , the recessive allele frequency.

Now that we know the value of , we can solve for the value of .

The frequency of heterozygotes is equal to in the Hardy-Weinberg calculation. Now that we know the frequency of each allele, we can complete this calculation.

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