Application of the Hardy-Weinberg model to a mixed population of Bar and wild-type Drosophila

 

Andrea Bixler and Fred Schnee

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2005, Volume 26

Abstract

Unlike most population genetics labs, which involve simulations with beans or beads, this lab provides an opportunity to study a population of living organisms. Using Bar and wild-type Drosophila, students compare allele and genotype frequencies to Hardy-Weinberg expectations. Because the Bar mutation in Drosophila is sex-linked and incompletely dominant, students can determine the exact genotype of a fly from its phenotype. These data are evaluated to determine which (if any) of the five Hardy-Weinberg assumptions have been violated. This real-data approach allows students to appreciate the value of this null model and helps the instructor to discover and correct students’ misunderstandings of the model.

Keywords:  population genetics, Drosophila, evolution, Hardy-Weinburg genetic equilibrium, Mendelian inheritance, behavioral genetics

Bowling Green State University, Ohio (2004)