Industrial melanism refers to the dark pigmentation that evolved in some insects
ID: 32218 • Letter: I
Question
Industrial melanism refers to the dark pigmentation that evolved in some insects giving them protective coloration on vegetation darkened by soot in heavily industrialized areas prior to air pollution regulation. Assume that in one heavily polluted area near Birmingham, England in 1956, 79% of the moths of the species Biston betularia were black due to the presence of a dominant gene for melanism. Estimate the frequency of the dominant allele in this population, and the proportion of black moths that are heterozygous.
Explanation / Answer
Industrial melanism refers to the dark pigmentation that evolved in some insects, giving them protective coloration on vegetation darkened by soot in industrialized areas prior to smokestack filtration. In one area near Birmingham, England in 1956, 87% of moths of the species Biston betularia had black bodies due to carrying the dominant autosomal allele for melanism. Assuming random mating, estimate the frequency of the dominant allele and the frequency of melanics that are heterozygotes.
Assuming HWE, q = ?(1- 0.87) = 0.3606, and so p = 1