Lecture 5: Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium & Evolution

Evolution

Change in inherited characteristics of biological populations over successive generations.

Microevolution

Change in allele frequencies over time within a population.

Mutation

Evolutionary process that introduces new alleles.

Genetic drift

Evolutionary process causing allele frequencies to change randomly.

Gene flow

Introduction of new alleles when individuals join and breed in another population.

Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium

An ideal state where allele and genotype frequencies do not change.

Hardy-Weinberg Equation

p squared plus 2pq plus q squared equals 1.

p²

Frequency of the homozygous A1A1 genotype in HWE.

2pq

Frequency of the heterozygous A1A2 genotype in HWE.

q²

Frequency of the homozygous A2A2 genotype in HWE.

Null hypothesis

A statement stating no relationship between phenomena or no evolution occurring.

HWE mutation requirement

No mutations are occurring with respect to the gene of interest.