In a population of flowers growing in a meadow, C1 and C2 are autosomal codominant alleles that control flower color. The alleles are polymorphic in the population, with f(C₁) = 0.80 and f(C₂) = 0.20. Flowers that are C₁C₁ are yellow, orange flowers are C₁C₂, and C₂C₂ flowers are red. A storm blows a new species of hungry insects into the meadow, and they begin to eat yellow and orange flowers but not red flowers. The predation exerts strong natural selection on the flower population, resulting in relative fitness values of C₁C₁ = 0.30, C₁C₂ = 0.60, and C₂C₂ = 1.0. Assuming the population begins in H-W equilibrium, what are the allele frequencies after one generation of natural selection?

Key Concepts

Codominance

Codominance is a genetic scenario where two different alleles for a gene are expressed equally in the phenotype of a heterozygote. In this case, the alleles C1 and C2 produce distinct flower colors when present together (C1C2 results in orange flowers), illustrating how both alleles contribute to the observable traits.

Natural Selection

Natural selection is a fundamental mechanism of evolution where individuals with traits better suited to their environment tend to survive and reproduce more than those with less advantageous traits. In this scenario, the predation of yellow and orange flowers leads to a decrease in their frequencies, favoring the survival of red flowers (C2C2) which are not consumed.

Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium

The Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is a principle that describes a population that is not evolving, where allele and genotype frequencies remain constant from generation to generation in the absence of evolutionary influences. The initial conditions of the flower population are assumed to be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, which allows for the calculation of allele frequencies before and after the impact of natural selection.