Genetics practical exam

What is genetic drift?

Random fluctuations in allele frequencies in a population over time, across generations

What is inbreeding?

Mating between close relatives

Inbreeding increases the frequency of

both homozygotes

Inbreeding

decreases genetic variation

Does inbreeding affect allele frequencies?

No

Does inbreeding affect genotype frequencies?

Yes

Why does inbreeding not affect allele frequencies?

There are no new alleles created or old ones lost; the existing alleles are just shuffled into new pairs which affects only genotype frequencies - more homozygotes instead of heterozygotes.

Does genetic drift affect allele frequencies?

Yes

Does genetic drift affect genotype frequencies?

Yes

True or false - change in allele frequencies must mean change in genotype frequencies?

True

Genetic drift increases

only one of the homozygotes

True or false - genetic drift has a major impact in small population sizes

True