Biology I / Speciation and the Origin of Diversity
Practice question · Numerical answer

In a population at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium the dominant allele has frequency p=0.7p = 0.7. What percentage of the population are heterozygotes?

Hints
  1. Heterozygote frequency is 2pq, and q is 1 minus p.
  2. Compute 2 x 0.7 x 0.3, then express as a percentage.
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42 (answers within ±1 count)

Why

q=0.3q = 0.3, so 2pq=2×0.7×0.3=0.422pq = 2 \times 0.7 \times 0.3 = 0.42, or 42 %. Heterozygotes peak at 50 % when both alleles are equally common, and fall away as either allele becomes rare.

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