Applying Hardy Weinberg to Population Genetics

For each problem, assume the population is in Hardy Weinberg equilibrium.

1. The frequency of a recessive allele in a population is 40%. What variable in the Hardy Weinberg equations does the
40% refer to? Why?

2. The frequency of individuals who express a recessive disease in a population is 16%. What variable in the Hardy
Weinberg equations does the 16% refer to? Why?

3. In a population of rats, 120 out of 350 have curly whiskers and patchy hair. In order for rats to have this phenotype,
they must be homozygous dominant for their genotype. What variable in the Hardy Weinberg equations does the
120/350 refer to? Why?

4. The frequency of a recessive allele in a Show work here:

population is 50%. What is the frequency of
the dominant allele?

5. Red hair coat color (r) is recessive to black Show work here:
hair coat color (R) in cattle. 30 cattle have
red hair coat color in a population of 150
(meaning their genotype is rr). Knowing this,
calculate the frequency of the r allele.

6. Curly hair in horses (h) is recessive to Show work here:

© Getting Down With Science 2020

normal hair (H). If 15% of a population of

horses has curly hair, calculate the frequency
of individuals homozygous dominant for
normal hair, and heterozygous for normal
hair.

35
 7. If 108 out of 300 individuals in a population Show work here:
express the recessive phenotype, what percent
of the population are heterozygotes?

8. A population of birds may have red feathers Show work here:

(the dominant phenotype) or orange feathers
(the recessive phenotype). Red feathered birds
have the genotype RR or Rr. Orange feathered
birds have the genotype rr. The frequency of
the RR genotype is .46.
a. What is the frequency of heterozygous
birds?
b. What is the frequency of the R allele?
c. What is the frequency of the r allele?

9. A population of mice contains 20 animals Show work here:

with white tails and 30 animals with grey tails.
Grey tails are the dominant trait.
a. What is the frequency of the white allele?
b. What is the frequency of the grey allele?
c. What is the frequency of heterozygotes?
d. What is the frequency of mice
homozygous for the grey allele?
© Getting Down With Science 2020

36
 10. Freckles (F) are dominant to no freckles (f). Show work here:
If there are 201 people with freckles in a
population of 300 people:
a. What is the predicted frequency of
heterozygotes?
b. What is the predicted frequency of
homozygous dominant?
c. What is the predicted frequency of
homozygous recessive?

11. A population of 5,000 humans has 2,312 Show work here:

individuals with the blood type AA, 2,176
individuals with blood type AB and 512
individuals with the blood type BB.
a. What is the frequency of each genotype in
this population?
b. What is the frequency of the A allele?
c. What is the frequency of the B allele?
d. If the next generation contained 45,000
individuals, how many individuals would
have blood type BB, assuming the
population is in Hardy-Weinberg
equilibrium?

12. Approximately 1 in 3500 newborns in the Show work here:

United States are born with cystic fibrosis. C is
the normal allele, dominant over the recessive
c allele. Individuals must be homozygous for
the recessive allele to have the disease.
a. What percent of the above population has
cystic fibrosis?
b. Assuming a Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium,
how many newborns would have cystic
© Getting Down With Science 2020

fibrosis in a population of 10,000 people?

37