A population's genotype frequencies depart from HWE expectations. What can we conclude?
- A
The gene of interest is recessive and therefore exempt from the standard Hardy-Weinberg expectations
- B
Sample size is too small for any inference, so the population must be retested at a later generation
- C
Allele frequencies are perfectly stable and the gene pool meets every assumption of Hardy-Weinberg
- Dcheck_circle
The population is non-random in some way (e.g., selection, non-random mating, drift, migration, or mutation)
Explanation
HWE is a null hypothesis. Departure indicates one of the violated assumptions is at work — typically how we detect evolution.