There is an outbred population of mice living in a farmer’s field. Mutations occur at a gene called nurseryrhyme that cause a totally recessive form of blindness (h=0). These blind mice do not survive to reproduce because the farmer’s wife cuts off their tail (and other bits) with a carving knife. Surveying the field for baby mice you find that 3/10,000 mice are blind. A. Assuming that the population mates at random, what is the mutation rate of blindness causing alleles? B. Following more careful study you now find that there is actually a 20% reduction in the viability of heterozygotes for these mutations. What would you now estimate as the mutation rate for this gene?

Human Heredity: Principles and Issues (MindTap Course List)
11th Edition
ISBN:9781305251052
Author:Michael Cummings
Publisher:Michael Cummings
Chapter19: Population Genetics And Human Evolution
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 11QP: Using the HardyWeinberg Law in Human Genetics In a given population, the frequencies of the four...
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There is an outbred population of mice living in a farmer’s field. Mutations occur at a gene
called nurseryrhyme that cause a totally recessive form of blindness (h=0). These blind mice
do not survive to reproduce because the farmer’s wife cuts off their tail (and other bits) with
a carving knife. Surveying the field for baby mice you find that 3/10,000 mice are blind.
A. Assuming that the population mates at random, what is the mutation rate of blindness
causing alleles?
B. Following more careful study you now find that there is actually a 20% reduction in the
viability of heterozygotes for these mutations. What would you now estimate as the
mutation rate for this gene? 

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