A farmer plants Bt cotton that is genetically modified to produce its own insecticide. Of the cotton bollworms feeding on these Bt plants, only 5% survive unless they have at least one copy of the dominant resistance allele R that confers resistance to the Bt insecticide. When the farmer first plants Bt cotton, the frequency of the R allele in the cotton bollworm population is 0.01. What will the frequency of the resistance allele be after one generation of cotton bollworms fed on Bt cotton [answer]

the frequency of the resistant allele after one generation is 0.989

Explanation:

Given that :

A farmer plants Bt cotton that is genetically modified to produce its own insecticide.

Of the cotton bollworms feeding on these Bt plants, only 5% survive

i.e the survival rate s  = 5% =0.05

unless they have at least one copy of the dominant resistance allele R that confers resistance to the Bt insecticide

Frequency of R allele = 0.01

In order to determine what will the frequency of the resistance allele be after one generation of cotton bollworms fed on Bt cotton; we need to first determine the frequency of the recessive allele r.

According to Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium ;

p+q = 1

Let p = R and q = r

R + r = 1

0.01 + r = 1

r = 1 - 0.01

r = 0.99

Now; the  frequency of the resistance allele after one generation can be calculated as :

where ;

q' = R

q = r

q' = 0.989

Thus; the frequency of the resistant allele after one generation is 0.989

step 1: initiation

initiation is the beginning of transcription. it occurs when the enzyme rna polymerase binds to a region of a gene called the promoter. this signals the dna to unwind so the enzyme can ‘‘read’’ the bases in one of the dna strands. the enzyme is now ready to make a strand of mrna with a complementary sequence of bases.

step 2: elongation

elongation is the addition of nucleotides to the mrna strand. rna polymerase reads the unwound dna strand and builds the mrna molecule, using complementary base pairs. there is a brief time during this process when the newly formed rna is bound to the unwound dna. during this process, an adenine (a) in the dna binds to an uracil (u) in the rna.

step 3: termination

termination is the ending of transcription, and occurs when rna polymerase crosses a stop (termination) sequence in the gene. the mrna strand is complete, and it detaches from dna.