Warfarin is a rat poison that hinders the coagulation of blood, and is widely us
ID: 74544 • Letter: W
Question
Warfarin is a rat poison that hinders the coagulation of blood, and is widely used in locations with large numbers of rats to control the population. Resistance to warfarin has arisen in many rat populations, and behaves as a dominant allele at the single locus. However, rats that are homozygous for the resistance allele have a much reduced fitness compared to the either warfarin-sensitive rats or heterozygous resistant rats. a Will the continued use of warfarin in these populations eventually eradicate the rat population? Why or why not? The best answer will use the specific term to discuss what type of evolutionary effect is at work. What are two factors will affect the frequency of the warfarin-sensitive and w arfarin-resistant alleles in these populations? Be as specific (and brief) as possible.Explanation / Answer
a. The continued use of warfarin in these poulations will eradicate the homozygote resistant rat population.
This is because the heterozygote warfarin resistant population have a selective advantage over the homozygote resistant population.The resistant rat populations are maintained in a state of balanced polymorphism.The appropriate term is overdominance or heterozygote advantage.It will take fewer than 100 generations to eradicate the homozygotes.
b. The two factors are:
These factors may result in an unstable equlibrium of allele frequencies.