Question

The island “Notsolucky” has experienced devastating catastrophic events within the last few months that have reduced the population size to 50 people. The genetic disorder, Hurler Syndrome, is more prominent in the next generation of children from the survivors and now appears to have equal fitness to the phenotype that displays no signs of the disease. How would we now describe the fitness state of the Hurler allele and which evolutionary force is responsible for this characteristic?

Answer 1

1) In this case, a genetic drift could happen. Just to remember, a genetic drift is a random change in allele frequency from one generation to the next. This evolutionary force has a big impact over small populations (like in this particular case of 50 individuals). It could be possible that all members have the Hurter allele.