In the Hardy Weinberg formula, what does 2pq represent?

Question

Luna Cruz · Accepted Answer

In the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium equation, the term #2pq# represents the genotype frequency of heterozygotes in a population in equilibrium (where #p^2# + #2pq# + #q^2# = 1 ).

In the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium equation (#p^2 + 2pq + q^2 = 1#), the term #2pq# represents the genotype frequency of heterozygotes (Aa) in a population in equilibrium. The term #p^2# represents the frequency of dominant homozygotes (AA) and the term #q^2# represents the frequency of recessive homozygotes (aa). #p# represents the allele frequency of allele A, and #q# represents the allele frequency of the allele a. The sum of all of these terms is always equal to #1# (ie. #p^2 + 2pq + q^2 = 1# ) because those three frequencies represent all possible combinations of alleles. This description works best for a simple case study where there is a single gene locus and only two alleles for that gene locus.

Luna Cruz · Answer

undefined In the Hardy-Weinberg formula, 2pq represents the frequency of heterozygous individuals in a population for a particular allele.