Friday, September 18, 2009

Leucoderma-HW

There was this study done on a population having Leucoderma in Gujarat and it was found that the alleles involved were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium...! The results were surprising because we expect selection to act against the individuals with Leucoderma...because of the so called "mate choices" . But this wasn't the case here... again a study followed to determine the reason for absence of selection! It was found that the symptoms of leucoderma i.e the white patches on the skin occurred or were visible only after the subjects got married... they were totally absent when the mate choices were made...thus selection did not occur against the trait.
(My second encounter with the Hardy-Weinberg law...was with this example and since then whenever i see a person with Leucoderma Hardy-Weinberg law marquee makes an appearance!)
These days more often... I not only encounter quite a few people with Lecuoderma but also these people are quite young! (this is in mumbai) Making my mind wonder of the allele stats...I think the current scenario points towards, selection pressure acting on these alleles cause the symptoms are evident before the mate choice...so selection pressure must definately act, ideally should act and in the future should lead to gradual dilution of this allele from the population.
It's only for someone to study the population of those affected with leucoderma and highlight the allele stats!
Looking from point of view of a science student: Day to day, current, classical example of Hardy-Weinberg law and selection pressure at work.

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