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Hardy-Weinberg Principle

Hardy-Weinberg Principle

Diploid organisms have two alleles of each gene, one from each parent, in their somatic cells. Therefore, each individual contributes two alleles to the gene pool of the population. The gene pool of a population is the sum of every allele of all genes within that population and has some degree of variation. Genetic variation is typically expressed as a relative frequency, which is the percentage of the total population that has a given allele, genotype or phenotype.

Law of Independent Assortment

Law of Independent Assortment

While Mendel’s Law of Segregation states that the two alleles for one gene are separated into different gametes, a different question of how different genes are inherited remains. For example, is the gene for tall plants inherited with the gene for green peas? Mendel asked this question by experimenting with a dihybrid cross; a cross in which both parents are homozygous for two distinct traits resulting in an F1 generation that are heterozygous for both traits.

Law of Segregation

Law of Segregation

When crossing pea plants, Mendel noticed that one of the parental traits would sometimes disappear in the first generation of offspring, called the F1 generation, and could reappear in the next generation (F2). He concluded that one of the traits must be dominant over the other, thereby causing masking of one trait in the F1 generation. When he crossed the F1 plants, he found that 75% of the offspring in the F2 generation had the dominant phenotype, while 25% had the recessive phenotype.

Probability Laws

Probability Laws

Punnett Squares

Punnett Squares

Punnett Squares

Punnett Squares

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 5, 2026

Why Quantification Matters: Characterization of Phenotypes at the Drosophila Larval Neuromuscular Junction

Why Quantification Matters: Characterization of Phenotypes at the Drosophila Larval Neuromuscular Junction

Published on: May 12, 2016

Universality and predictability in molecular quantitative genetics.

Armita Nourmohammad¹, Torsten Held, Michael Lässig

¹Joseph-Henri Laboratories of Physics and Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, United States.

Current Opinion in Genetics & Development

|December 3, 2013

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Quantitative genetics of molecular traits is advancing. Universal evolutionary characteristics, independent of genetic basis, reveal selection and predict trait evolution across lineages, opening new avenues in evolutionary systems biology.

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary biology
Quantitative genetics
Systems biology

Background:

Molecular traits (gene expression, protein binding) are measurable via high-throughput techniques.
These traits are crucial targets of natural selection in evolution.
Understanding the evolutionary genetics of molecular traits is a growing field.

Purpose of the Study:

To review recent developments in evolutionary theory and experiments for quantitative genetics of molecular traits.
To focus on universal evolutionary characteristics that are independent of a trait's genetic basis.
To demonstrate how universal measurements can infer selection and predict trait evolution.

Main Methods:

Review of recent theoretical and experimental developments in evolutionary biology.
Focus on universal evolutionary characteristics of molecular traits.
Analysis of trait statistics across cellular scales.

Main Results:

Universal evolutionary measurements can infer selection acting on quantitative traits.
These measurements determine the evolutionary mode (conservation or adaptation).
Universality is linked to the predictability of trait evolution across different lineages.

Conclusions:

Universal trait statistics provide insights into evolutionary modes and predictability.
This approach extends across various cellular scales.
It opens new research avenues in quantitative evolutionary systems biology.