Biology Question

Question

 

Genetic variation within a population is measured by the average heterozygosity of an organism's genome. In the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster), 13,700 genes make up its genome. Researchers find the fruit fly population to be homozygous for 11,780 of its loci and heterozygous for the remaining loci. Using this information, the average heterozygosity of D. melanogaster is (2 points)

A	14%
B	46%
C	54%
D	86%

Answer 1

Hello!

I think the answer is 14%. An organism can either be homozygous (have the same version of a gene on each chromosome) or heterozygous (have a different version of a gene on each chromosome). If a fruit fly has 13,700 genes, of which 11,780 are homozygous, if you subtract 11,780 from 13,700, you should find the number of genes for which the fruit fly is heterozygous. Once you get that number, which is 1920, you will divide by total genes (13,700) and multiply by 100% to get your percent heterozygosity. This comes out to approximately 14%. At least this is what I believe they are looking for! The math is below:

# heterozygotes = 13,700-11,780 = 1920

Percent heterozygotes = (1920/13,700)*100 = 14%