Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium Lab Report

Introduction In biology there is a scientific principle known as the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium. In this principle it is believe that allele frequencies will remain the same among the different generations, depending on whether or not the five assumptions are taking place. In this experiment, students put the Hardy-Weinberg theory to the test. Out of the five assumptions, only two were conducted in the experiment, Natural Selection and Mutation. For those that do not know, the Hardy-Weinberg Equation is used to determine genotype and allele frequencies in a population. After collecting the data from the controlled experiment, it is believed that one of the assumptions of the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium will decrease the allele frequencies for each generation.

Methods

During this experiment there was a large amount of data collected. This data was collected by the simulation of mating. Each student received two note cards. On these note cards, there was one allele, a dominant (A) and a recessive (a). These alleles were chosen at random for each student. For the 18 students participating, the genotype counts were as follows: 4 homozygous dominant (AA), 8 heterozygous (Aa), and 4 homozygous recessive (aa). We began by conducting the control exercise. Each student was to find 7 different mates and mate two times with each
Here you were also asked to find 7 different students and mate twice with them. Although the process was the same, you were to change your card to whatever your second offspring was before you found a new mate. For example, if you began with AA for your F1 generation and Offspring 2 was an Aa, then you would begin the F2 mating with Aa. However, in this exercise the class was testing the Natural Selection assumption. It was noted that the homozygous recessive allele (aa) would be killed off, therefore nobody would begin the generation with that