Question

The Hardy-Weinbury principle cannot operate if

• A. The population is very large
• B. Frequent mutations occur in the population
• C. The population has no chance of interaction with other populations
• D. Free interbreeding occurs among all members of the population

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

Frequent mutations occur in the population

• The Hardy-Weinbury principle is applied to determine the frequency of alleles in the given population.
• The principle helps in the determination of evolution. If the Hardy-Weinbury equilibrium is reached, there will be no evolution. There are certain conditions, which need to be met in order to allow evolution to occur.
• There should be changes in the allele frequency but frequent mutations should not occur. This disturbs the allele frequency in the population and the principle cannot be applied.

Thus, the correct answer is option B.