A hypothesis to explain that a deleterious allele, like sickle-cell anemia, could become fixed in a population. Introduction: Sickle-cell anemia is a genetic disease, which occurs in individuals, who are homozygous recessive for an allele that affects the hemoglobin gene. There is a strong negative selection against this allele, but it is quite common in central Africa, particularly in areas where malaria was highly prevalent historically.

Question

Want to see the full answer?

Answer 1

Question

Chapter 20.5, Problem 1R

Summary Introduction

To review:

A hypothesis to explain that a deleterious allele, like sickle-cell anemia, could become fixed in a population.

Introduction:

Sickle-cell anemia is a genetic disease, which occurs in individuals, who are homozygous recessive for an allele that affects the hemoglobin gene. There is a strong negative selection against this allele, but it is quite common in central Africa, particularly in areas where malaria was highly prevalent historically.

Expert Solution & Answer

Want to see the full answer?

Check out a sample textbook solution

See solution

Students have asked these similar questions

in a village where hte proportion of individuals who are susceptible to malaria (genotype hbA/hbA) is 0.53 and hte population is asssumed to be at hardy weingberg equalibrium what is the expected freqency of the HbS alle? hint what is the genotype of people with sickle cell disease and how is that genotype represneted in the hardy weinberg equation

At least three hemoglobin alleles in human populations alterhemoglobin structure in such a way as to impair the transportof O2 by the blood but enhance resistance of red blood cells toparasitization by malaria parasites. Explain how such allelesexemplify pleiotropy, and discuss whether such alleles couldlead to nonadaptive evolution of blood O2 transport in certainsituations.

Describe the effect of malaria on the frequency of the HbS allele in areas where malaria is common:In areas with malaria, which individual would survive better and leave more offspring- an individual with two HbA alleles or an individual with one HbA allele and one HbS allele? Given this, would you expect the HbS allele to be common or rare in populations living with malaria?