Question

In a laboratory experiment of sexually reproducing plants, a certain trait is determined by a single gene. The dominant allele has complete dominance over the recessive allele, resulting in two different phenotypes. Scientists created a new population of this plant by crossing 51 homozygous dominant individuals with 49 homozygous recessive individuals. The following results are from the first five generations of this population:

Answer 1

Generation - # individuals with dom trait- # Recessive trait- total numbers
1 51 49 100
2 285 0 285
3 270 90 360
4 315 105 420
5 375 125 500

On the basis of the data, propose an explanation for the phenotypic changes from generations 1 to 3.
Do you think this population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium? Support your answer.
What are two possible conditions that can disrupt a Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?