Question

multiple choice question
in a population of 1,000 individuals with a gene that has two alleles, there are 2,000 alleles total for this gene. if there are 800 copies of allele a, what is the frequency of allele a in the population?

○ 0.1
○ 0.2
○ 0.4
○ 0.8
○ 0.9

Explanation:

Step1: Recall allele frequency formula

Allele frequency is calculated as the number of copies of a specific allele divided by the total number of alleles for that gene. The formula is \( f = \frac{n}{N} \), where \( f \) is the allele frequency, \( n \) is the number of copies of the allele, and \( N \) is the total number of alleles.

Step2: Identify values

Here, \( n = 800 \) (number of copies of allele \( a \)) and \( N = 2000 \) (total number of alleles).

Step3: Calculate allele frequency

Substitute the values into the formula: \( f = \frac{800}{2000} \). Simplifying this fraction, we divide both the numerator and the denominator by 2000's greatest common divisor with 800 (which is 400). \( \frac{800\div400}{2000\div400} = \frac{2}{5} = 0.4 \).

Answer:

0.4 (corresponding to the option with 0.4)