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Concept
Hardy–Weinberg principle
Summary
In population genetics, the Hardy–Weinberg principle, also known as the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium, model, theorem, or law, states that allele and genotype frequencies in a population will remain constant from generation to generation in the absence of other evolutionary influences. These influences include genetic drift, mate choice, assortative mating, natural selection, sexual selection, mutation, gene flow, meiotic drive, genetic hitchhiking, population bottleneck, founder effect, inbreeding and outbreeding depression.
In the simplest case of a single locus with two alleles denoted A and a with frequencies f(A) = p and f(a) = q, respectively, the expected genotype frequencies under random mating are f(AA) = p2 for the AA homozygotes, f(aa) = q2 for the aa homozygotes, and f(Aa) = 2pq for the heterozygotes. In the absence of selection, mutation, genetic drift, or other forces, allele frequencies p and q are constant between generations, so equilibrium is reached.
The principle is named after G. H. Hardy and Wilhelm Weinberg, who first demonstrated it mathematically. Hardy's paper was focused on debunking the view that a dominant allele would automatically tend to increase in frequency (a view possibly based on a misinterpreted question at a lecture). Today, tests for Hardy–Weinberg genotype frequencies are used primarily to test for population stratification and other forms of non-random mating.
Consider a population of monoecious diploids, where each organism produces male and female gametes at equal frequency, and has two alleles at each gene locus. We assume that the population is so large that it can be treated as infinite. Organisms reproduce by random union of gametes (the "gene pool" population model). A locus in this population has two alleles, A and a, that occur with initial frequencies f0(A) = p and f0(a) = q, respectively.
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