Answer to Question #190550 in Genetics for Sarah

Question

1a. Discuss the role of Gene Flow in evolution

1b. Explain how Natural Selection operates to bring about evolutionary change

1c. Explain the attributes of the Biological Species that ensure that different species do not interbreed.

Answer 1

1a)Evolution can also occur as a result of genes being transferred from one population to another. This gene flow occurs when there is migration. The loss or addition of people can easily change gene pool frequencies even if there are no other evolutionary mechanisms operating.

1b)Over time, these advantageous traits become more common in the population. Through this process of natural selection, favorable traits are transmitted through generations. Natural selection can lead to speciation, where one species gives rise to a new and distinctly different species.

1c)The spatial movement of genes is called gene flow. When an individual migrates from one population to another, it carries genes that are representative of its own ancestral population into the recipient population. If it successfully establishes itself and breeds it will transmit those genes between the populations. The transfer of genes is called gene flow. If the two populations originally had different gene frequencies and if selection is not operating, migration (or, to be exact, gene flow) alone will rapidly cause the gene frequencies of the different populations to converge.