how would you describe the process of genetic drift?

Answer 1

oohh- i just learned this last week in anthropology!!
genetic drift is how the gene frequencies of populations change or fluctuate over time; from one generation to the next, the gene pool changes. some genes become more common and others become more rare.
one type of genetic drift is the founder effect, which is when a small number of a population has to repopulate- say a herd of 50 animals falls victim to some disaster, and only 10 of them survive, those 10 have to repopulate. the gene frequency will exhibit more differences (more 'drift').
another type of genetic drift is a population bottleneck which is when there is a drastic reduction in the number of a species, reducing genetic diversity.

Answer 2

I don't know what they're teaching these days but the change in allele frequencies caused by a bottleneck doesn't cause genetic drift - genetic drift happens when you have mutation acting on creatures as normal and you take away selection.

Like whats happening with humans today. I have to wear eye glasses - maybe 20,000 years ago my bad eyesight would have led to me walking in to a sabretoothed cat and getting eaten - so much for my genes - in today's society there are no dangerous predators and my genes can survive quite well as the selection forces are practically non-existent.

Answer 3

The rate of transcription errors in nucleotide sequences is about 0.00000006% in each sequence in each generation. If the substitution of a nucleobase in the sequence results in a gene that codes for a different protein, we have a mutation. If the mutation is beneficial to the survival or reproduction of the species, it will tend to be favored in a population due to natural selection. If the mutation is detrimental, it will tend to be removed by natural selection. If it is neither beneficial nor detrimental, the degree to which it increases in the population is related to chance factors, and is termed "genetic drift."

Answer 4

You, your brother, and your girlfriends are stranded on a tropic isle. Your girlfriend has red hair and green eyes. No one else has red hair and green eyes. Your girlfriend gets struck by lightning and is killed, before she has any children. Now your population no longer has the alleles for red hair or green eyes.

That's genetic drift. Sorry about your girlfriend, buddy. Your genes will also be lost to succeeding generations unless you get it on with your brother's girlfriend.

Answer 5

" A sampling error ". You could have a large population die off, leaving a genotype sample that was not exactly reflective of the original genotype of the population. Or, you could have a " founder effect ", such as happened in Quebec. A small proportion of a population immigrates to a new location. By chance, they have a selection genotype, say many homologous and recessive traits, aa. So, by " founder effect " these traits are driven to fixity in the population. You see a greater proportion of these traits in the new population, than you saw in the old population. If the new population carries a deleterious recessive load, such diseases as Tay-Sachs are overrepresented in the new population. Such is the case in Quebec.

Answer 6

id have to bs it