allele frequency


allele frequency

A term used in population genetics for the number of copies of a particular allele divided by the number of copies of all alleles at that specific genetic locus in a population of interest. Allele frequency is a measure of a population’s genetic diversity: the higher the allele frequency, the greater the population’s consanguinity.
Allele frequencyFig. 23 Allele frequency . Calculation of allele frequency from genotype frequency.

allele frequency

or

gene frequency

the proportion of a particular ALLELE of a gene in a population, relative to other alleles of the same gene. For example, if a gene has two alleles, A and a , and the frequency of A is 0.6, then the frequency of a will be 1.0 - 0.6 = 0.4. The allele frequency can be calculated from the GENOTYPE FREQUENCY; See Fig. 23 .