In the year 2015, another group of scientists studied the squirrel coat color an

Question

In the year 2015, another group of scientists studied the squirrel coat color and found that the population of squirrels had increased. They now found that of 850 squirrels, 115 had red coats.

What is the frequency of the recessive allele?

Scenario In the 1960s, a population of squirrels (Sci arolensis) was being studied in Alabama and the coat color of the squirrels was found to range from the more common gray color (dominant) to the less common red color (recessive). When scientists sampled an area, they found 536 gray squirrels and 64 red squirrels. Assuming the population is at Hardy Weinberg's equilibrium, answer the following questions: Remember the Hardy Weinberg equation from class: pq 1, where p is the frequency of the dominant allele and q is the frequency of the recessive allele

Explanation / Answer

Total population size = 850

Squirrels with red coats = 115

So, squirrels with gray coat = 850 - 115 = 735

Now dominant allele is gray color and recessive allele is red color.

So, percentage of recessive allele = (115÷850)×100= 13.52%

And percentage of dominant allele = 100-13.52= 86.48%

Now, frequency of recessive allele (q2)= 0.13

Therefore, q =0.13 = 0.36

Since, q represents the recessive allele. So, the frequency of recessive allele is 36%

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