Evolutionary Analysis (5th Edition)
Evolutionary Analysis (5th Edition)
5th Edition
ISBN: 9780321616678
Author: Jon C. Herron, Scott Freeman
Publisher: PEARSON
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Chapter 5, Problem 12Q

Discuss factors that might cause mutation rates to vary among individuals in populations, and among species.

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1a) In a very large population, if the forward and reverse mutation rates are exactly the same, how would you expect the frequency of an original, non-mutated allele to change in the population over time? Will the population eventually achieve an equilibrium value of the frequency of the non-mutated allele? b) What if the forward mutation rate is one order of magnitude larger (e. 10X) than the reverse mutation rate? Do you expect the frequency of the original, non-mutated allele to increase, decrease, or stay the same over time?  c) If the population size is considerably smaller, does this change your expectations for changes in the frequency of the original, non-mutated allele over several generations?
The use of nucleotide sequence data to measure genetic variability is complicated by the fact that the genes of higher eukaryotes are complex in organization and contain 5′ and 3′ flanking regions as well as introns. Researchers have compared the nucleotide sequence of two cloned alleles of the g-globin gene from a single individual and found a variation of 1 percent. Those differences include 13 substitutions of one nucleotide for another and 3 short DNA segments that have been inserted in one allele or deleted in the other. None of the changes takes place in the gene’s exons (coding regions). Why do you think this is so, and should it change our concept of genetic variation?
As discussed, the overall rate of mutations in humans is estimated to be about 1 × 10−8 mutations per base pair per generation. How many new mutations would you expect each person to carry, on average, based on this mutation rate? Other studies have estimated that each person carries about 100 new loss-of-function mutations. How does this number compare with your estimate of the number of mutations based on the mutation rate? What might account for any differences?
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