Question

Human earwax texture is determined by a single gene with two alleles, wet and dry. Dry is recessive and wet is dominant.
Evidence suggests that the dry allele first appeared in Eastern Asia about 2,000 generations ago. The frequency of the dry allele in a European population is .15. What percentage of this population is expected to have the wet earwax phenotype?

• A. 0.02
• B. 0.26
• C. 0.72
• D. 0.85

Answer 1

Answer: (D)

0.85

According to Hardy Wienberg's principle the sum of the two alleles is 1, where the dominant allele is represented by p, while the recessive allele is represented by q, that is, p + q = 1

Here, the dry allele percentage in the population is .15

Therefore, the wet allele percentage is = 1 - .15 = .85

So, the correct answer is '0.85'