Question

question 6 of 10
in the hardy-weinberg equation shown below, ( p ) is the frequency of the dominant allele, and ( q ) is the recessive allele.
( p^{2}+2 p q+q^{2}=1 )
what does ( p^{2} ) represent in the equation?
a. the frequency of the homozygous dominant genotype
b. the frequency of the homozygous recessive genotype
c. the frequency of the heterozygous recessive genotype
d. the frequency of the heterozygous dominant genotype

Explanation:

In the Hardy - Weinberg equation \(p^{2}+2pq + q^{2}=1\), \(p\) is the frequency of the dominant allele. When calculating genotypes, for a homozygous dominant genotype (two dominant alleles), we multiply the frequency of the dominant allele by itself (\(p\times p=p^{2}\)). \(q^{2}\) represents the homozygous recessive genotype (two recessive alleles as \(q\times q = q^{2}\)), and \(2pq\) represents the heterozygous genotype (one dominant and one recessive allele, considering two ways of getting this combination: \(p\times q+q\times p = 2pq\)). So \(p^{2}\) is the frequency of the homozygous dominant genotype.

Answer:

A. The frequency of the homozygous dominant genotype