5 TION POPULATION GENETICS AND EVOLU ‘To develop learner’s knowledge and a “ population and how the change in the gene POY Desired Outcome: — Learner would understand the forces that caus populations. Learner would comprehend the mech: f Learner will be able to distinguish between micr megaevolution Objectiv leads to evolution of species. -volutionary changes in natura} anisms of speciation. ‘evolution, macroevolution and 2.1; Introduction to population geneties In biology, the term ‘species’ refers to a group of individuals w means, each individual could potentially mate with any other mem! Same group. Exampleample: A group of Apis indicus. When individuals of more than one closely related speci as a population. Exampleample: Honey bees. It is eomparati indicus, A, dorsata, A, florea and A. mellifera. 4 When group is constituted by individuals belonging to different species but sharing some commonfeatures, is known as general population, whereas a group of individuals in which there is free gene flow, is known as Mendelian population. é Mendelian population acquires lower status, while general population acquires rather higher status in ecosystem, Hence, Mendelian population may be defined as a group of sExampleually interbreeding individuals of a species living in a particular area at a particular time. As a biological phenomenon, all the living organisms reproduce through which members of a Mendelian population inherit genes from one generation to the nExamplet and thus the phenotypic characters. The study of inheritance of phenotypic traits ina given population is known as population genetics, In an elaborative way it can be defined as the study of the distribution and change in frequency of alleles within populafion. Study of population genetics is important in the field of evolutionary biology. here there is free gene flow. That s constitute rather larger group, itis known: vely larger group of bees of Apis 2.1.1: Brief explanation of the terms: (Population, gene pool, allelic frequency, genotype frequency, phenotypic frequency, microevolution); a) Population : Term population isused to denote a group of individuals having some common characters. It may be a local group of a species within which mating is actually or potentially occurring. The members of population are often distributed over a wide area. For example, Population of Tilapia fish, Humon populations of vegetarians and non-vegetarians, etc. o The ability to reproduce by mating with another member of a group is one of the Though a particular individual is not taking part in actual mating, it has a Population is a dynamic entity continuously changing due to various p mortality, migration, emigration, immigration etc. As a result it may Generally, mating between individuals of different species in a popu - lation is reproductive isolation, which sometimes occurs in nature that determines rae other eae ty evolution. €spects of population. Potential for mating. arameters like natality, STOW or reduce in size, nding of genetic variability withingb) Gene pool : All members of a Mendelian population carry a set of genetic information. Various genes with different allelic combination control various phenotypic characters in population. Ifall the genes in all the individuals ofa population are summed up, the resultant pool is known as gene pool. For a given gene, this pool involves all the alleles of that particular gene present in the population. Forexample, in human population, most ofthe people find bitter taste for organosulfur thiourea chemical called phenylthiourea (PTU) / phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) are called tasters. Remaining people could not find any taste to the same chemical, hence, they are called non-tasters. Bitter taste is under control of a dominant gene “T’, while its recessive allele in homozygous condition (tt) gives no taste. Though the taster and non-taster are two types of phenotypical individuals in population, genetically three types of individuals are possible. They are homozygous dominant (TT), heterozygous (Tt) and homozygous recessive (tt). Homozygous dominants and heterozygous are tasters but homozygous recessive remain non-tasters. Now, consider a population of 100 persons, of which 40 are homozygous tasters (TT), 50 are heterozygous tasters (Tt) and 10 are homozygous non-tasters (tt). For this trait each individual contains two alleles (genes occupying same locus). Hene: Total number of genes in population tal No. of individuals X No, of alleles controlling trait 1002 = 200 Therefore, 200 is the gene pool of the given population with reference to tasting character. Due to meiotic cell division during gametogenesis, gene pool is reduced to half and is known as gametic pool. However, itis doubled in zygote to reconstitute gene pool that may be different from the previous generation. c) Allele frequency : The relative frequency of an allele in a given Mendelian population is called allele frequency or gene frequency. It is the percentage of alleles of a given type in a population. It can be clearly understood with the following example: Consider a Mendelian population in a particular area consisting of 100 diploid individuals, in which eye color is controlled by two alleles located at the same gene locus. The alleles are *E” and ‘e’. Therefore, three kinds of individuals exist in the population. They are homozygous dominant (EE), heterozygous (Ee) and homozygous recessive (ee). Now, consider that out of 100 individuals, 50 are ‘EE’, 30 are ‘Ee’ and 20 are ‘ee’, These three types of individuals carry two types of genes. The total number of genes /alleles in a population of 100 individuals will be 200. Each homozygous dominant (EE) individual carries 2 ‘E? genes, each heterozygous individual (Be) carries one ‘E” Thatis, total number of “E’ genes in the population = (50 x 2) + (30x 1) = 100 + 30= 130 Similarly, each homozygous recessive (ee) individual carries 2 ‘e’ genes and each heterozygous individual (Ee) carries one ‘e’ gene. That is, total number of ‘e” genes in the population = (20 x 2) + (30x 1) = 40 + 30=70 In this case, the frequency of ‘E’ gene if represented by ‘p’ and that of gene ‘e’ by ‘q’ then, 13 The gene frequency of allele ‘E’ = 359 = 29= 9:65, gore’ 7 The gene frequency of allele ‘e’ = 299 = 26 = 0.35 I gene frequency of one allele is known, the frequency of other allele can be calculated by using a formula p +q= 1. When any one frequency is known other can be calculated .4) Genotypic and Phenotypic frequency : ie i ; Genotype is a combination of alleles occupying same locus. They determine genetic character ang express phenotypic character. The char phenotype. However, if alleles expressed in a co-dominant fashion are considered, phenotypes are equivalent to genotypes. : ‘To understand genotypic and phenotypic frequency, consider an example based on MN blood group system in human. Consider a population of 100 persons, of which 35 have M blood group with genotype ‘MM’, 50, have MN blood group with genotype ‘MN’ and 15 persons have blood group N with genotype ‘NN’, Therefore, genotype frequency / phenotype frequency can be calculated by dividing number of a particular genotype by total number of individuals in a population. 35 i.e, Genotype frequency of ‘MM? individuals = 755 = 0.35 50 Similarly, Genotype frequency of ‘MN’ individuals = 755 = 0.50 4s And Genotype frequency of ‘NN’ individuals =355 = 0.15 If, frequency of genotype ‘MM is indicated by ‘p’, that of ‘MN’ by ‘q’ and of ‘NN’ by ‘r’, Then, p +q+r= 1. Ifany two genotype frequencies are known, remaining genotype frequency can. be calculated using above formula, ©) Microeyolution : Evolution which occurs below the species level due to change in gene frequency over a relatively short period of time due to impact of evolutionary forces is called microevolution. It successively Jeads to formation of new subspecies. Microevolution is brought about by the following forces : > Natural selection > Mutation of nonresistant gene into resistant gene > Random genetic drift from one generation to the next > Immigration Phenomenon of microevolution is well exhibited by a population of house sparrows introduced in North America in 1852, Since that time the sparrows haye evolved different characteristics in different locations. Sparrow populations in the north are larger-bodied while that in the south are small-bodied. This divergence in populations is a result of natural selection, Larger-bodied birds can often survive lower temperatures than smaller-bodied birds. ; ; 2.2; Population Genetics 2.2.1: Hardy-Weinberg Law: ¢ English Mathematician, G. M. Hardy and a German Physician W. Weinberg, in 1908, discovered: Principle concemed withthe equnsy of gee (alles na population. Accordingtothe, nui large Mendelian population where there is random mating and absence of genetic forces like mutation, natural selection, genetic drift and gene flow, the relative frequencies of different. genes tendtoremain Constant generation after generation. In a simplest language, itcould be expressed mathematically! Tepresent the balance of alleles ina population Each allele represents particular frequency ina p Hardy-Weinberg Law is applicableto the population that fulfill the following conditions1) The population mustbe infinitely large 2) There should be random mating in the population. 3) There should not be any genetic force in the population. 4) There should notbe any selective advantage for any genotype so that all genotypes are equally fertile, Toexplain the law, consider that, p=frequency ofa dominant allele and q = frequency of arecessive allele in a population. The sum of both the frequencies in population is 100% (i.e, 100% = 1) Hence, p+q = | or (p+q)?=1 Forexample, in a population, if 60% of the alleles are “B’ and 40% alleles are *b’ then, p= 0.6 and q= 0.4. Inacheckerboard, the distribution of genotypes produced by random mating in the generation can be expressed as p?+2pq#+q?=1. This equation is known as Hardy-Weinberg equation. Allelic frequencies are equal to gametic frequencies; hence, if these frequencies are represented ina checkerboard, it yields following results. B (p=0.6) _b (q=0.4) BB Bb ie. p*+2pq+q B (p=0.6) pe Pq. = 0.36+2(0.24)+0.16 0.36 0.24 .36+0.48+0.16 Bb bb =f b (q=0.4) pq ¢ 0.24 0.16 In the new generation, the frequency of “BY allele is p+1/2(2pq) i.e. 0,36 + 1/2(2 x 0.24) = 0,36 + 0.24 = 0.60 ‘And the frequency of ‘b’ allele is q + 1/2(2pq) ie. 0.16 + 1/2(2 x 0.24) 0.16 + 0.24 =0.40 Here, the genetic equilibrium is achieved, as gene frequencies have remained constant from one generation to the next. To know the application of Hardy-Weinberg Law for a population without genetic force, consider the following example. ‘Some people can taste a chemical Phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) that are known as ‘taster’. This character is considered dominant and is determined by allele “T” with the genotype ‘TT’ and ‘Tt’. People who cannot taste PTC are called ‘non-taster’, which is said to be recessive character and determined by allele't’ with genotype ‘t. That means, with reference to a gene having two alleles “T" and ‘t, three combinations are possible at the gene locus on a pair of autosomes: “TT”, ‘Tt’ and ‘tt’. ‘Now, considera population of 100 persons, of which 20 are homozygous tasters (TT), 40 are heterozygous tasters (Tt) and 40 are homozygous non-taster (tt). Itmeans TT:Tr:tt = 20:40:40 and total number of alleles are 200,The frequency of allele ‘T’ isp, nants and 40 from heretozygotes. ‘Then, p —s i.e, 40 alleles from homozygous dominants an P=04 Similarly, the frequency of allele ‘t’ is q, y s recessives, Then, q= 228 i, apallele from heretazygotes and 80 from homozyE0% _ 200 120 9= 299 = 0.6 Now, consider TT :Tt : tt in the ratio of 10 : 60: 30 20+60 80 Then, the frequency of ‘T’ would be, P= 399 = 2007 040 60+60 And, the frequency of ‘t’ would be, q=~go9 = = 9-60 In both the populations, distribution of alleles is different but their aa Genotype frequencies in randomly mating population would be as follows. ies are same. Genotypes with relative frequencies Tr=04 | t=0.4 TT =0.04 | Tt=0.08 Tr=0.04 TT=02 08 The genotype frequencies in above example would be as follows. (0.04 + 0.04 + 0.08) = 0.16 .04 + 0.08 + 0.04 + 0.08 + 0.08 + 0.08 + 0.08) = 0.48 Tt= (0.04 + 0.08 + 0.08 + 0.16) = 0. Then, the frequency of allele “T” as indicated by p = 0.16 + (0.48) p=0.16 +0,24 = 0.40 And, the frequency of allele ‘t’ as indicated by q 4 . ‘As the Hardy-Weinberg Law is a Binomial Expansion of nie i (0+ qy=p?+2pa+a? Pansion of (p+), it yields following. 0.16 + 0.48 + 0.36 ae Hence, the equilibrium frequencies would be, TT=16%, Tt=48%, t= 36%Factors that disrupt Hardy Weinberg equilibrium : : ‘ f 2 Law, the relative frequencies of various alleles in a Mendel i popion ion tothe other. Hardy- Weinberg equilibrium exists in. popalation only Such ideal conditions never exist and 2.2. According to Hardy-Weinber remain constant from one gener of mutation, natural selection, migration and genetic drift changes in gene frequencies usually occurin a large and randomly mating population Mutation : jundamental property of gen hence, mutation acts as a force of evolution. Repeatedly occurring gene mutations in a population upset the genetic equilibriu ae Let us consider a small population of only 16 individuals that contain *M’ and ‘m! alleles at singh Jocus. With reference 1 these alleles, population may contain three kinds of individuals with genotypes “MM’, ‘Mm’ and ‘ their ratio in the population is 4MM:8Mm:4mm, Therefore, nd 16 ‘m’ genes. i.¢.50% ‘M’ and 50% ‘m’ genes. In this ’, then, there will be 15 ‘M’ genes ly indicating impact of mutation on population if, one domi and 17 ‘m’ genes (i,e. 46.8% ‘M’ and 53.2% ‘m’ genes) cl es of genes changes in the Migration (Gene flow): Migration of gene is the process of flowing of gene into a population from nearby populations. Overall effect of gene flow is twofold : 1) Itprevents genetic divergence between populations. 2) Itincreases the genetic variation within populations. Consider two populations, of which one is large and other is small. They have a specific frequency of genes with referen lele in question. Some individuals migrate from large population to small population, and therefore the genes. If the gene frequencies between the large and small Populations vary, migration will disturb the existing gene frequency in favor of the gene frequencies ofthe migrants, Inlocal units of a species, gene frequencies may be altered by an exchange of genes with other breeding Units (hybridization). Thus, the migration upsets the frequencies of some alleles in the gene pool. Non-Random Mating : Generally, in a randomly mating population Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is maintained. In most of the natural populations mating does not occur at random, but occur as a selective process. For example, males with favorable characters are usually selected by the females for mating, Therefore, when mating is on a non-random basis: Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is disturbed, This is further explained with the following phenomena. 4) Inbreeding : Inbreeding is the production of offspring through mating between closely related parents. It takes place in two ways: 4 i) by the systematic selection of relative as mates 't) by dividing « population into small subunits and development of a situation in whi individuals do not find any alternative than to mate with kin, ae Inbreeding allows several recessive genes {0 express themselves, If matin, i: I d l Lrecessi a g amongst close 1S continued it leads to elimination of heterozygotes and encourages arene or aInbreeding, sometimes, conducted deliberately to get the necessary genes in’ ne ea (ther: homozygous dominant or homozygous recessive) leads to development of pure lines and gradually eliminates heterozygous individuals from the population. Consider, a population of 1600 Reh ‘gous individuals (Nn) and each individual produced only one offspring in the first generation, the proportion of offspring in F, generation would be INN Inn or 400NN:800Nn:400nn. In the second generation, there would be 600NN:400Nn:600nn and so on, It clearly indicates successive increase in the frequency of homozygotes and decrease in the heterozygotes, ‘The extreme breeding is unfavorable to the offspring. This is because harmful characters are induced in Organisms by most of the recessive genes. Inbreeding promotes homozygosity of recessive genes, which intem leads to harmful phenotypes. Homozygous dominant Heterozygous Homonygees recessive P: 1600 Nn (inbred) (ax Na) FI; 400NN woke 400 nn | | F2: 400NN _200'NN 400 Nn 200 nn, 400 np. F3; my 100 NN 200 Na 10Q nn | I dam a Fa: TOQNN _SONN 100Nn$0.an__700.ng Pure lines Pure'lines Fegure 2.1; Successive increase in frequency of homozygotes and decrease in heterozygotes ii) Inbreeding depression : Plant and animal breeders select best individuals to improve their race by conserving some traits in each generation, Breeders try to achieve homogeneity by systematic breeding that increases homozygosity ina population. However, inbreeding usually leads to reduction in fitness such as fertility, vigor, resistance to disease, etc, Whenever fitness in a population is reduced due to inbreeding, it is known as inbreeding depression. Inbreeding may result in more recessivet@eleterious traits manifesting themselves, This is because the genomes of pair-mates are more similar and parents containing recessive genes transmit recessive traitsin their offspring. The more genetically similar the parents are, the more often recessive traits appearin their offspring. Such offspring gather more homozygous deleterious genes in them and may become sterile or unviable. Enforced inbreeding eliminate crossbreeding and leads to inbreeding depression, which furtherleads10 ‘high rate of fetal deaths, congenital malformations in human beings etc.iii) Positive assortative mating (Homogamy) : tis a pattem of frequent mating between individuals with similar phenotypes like body size, skin pigmentation, height, age ete. Itmay increase genetic relatedness within the family. In human beings assortative mating occurs over a wide array of traits, These include socio-economic, educational, religious, political attitudes, racial and ethnic, cultural, Personality, psychological and mental disorders. For example: Mating between ‘wo dwarf individuals leads to homogamy. Such type of selection is very common in nature. Positive assortative mating results in only three possible mating patterns with respect to genotypes for traits that are controlled by two autosomal alleles—homozygous dominant with homozygous dominant (DD X DD), heterozygous with heterozygous (Del ‘X Dd), and homozygous recessive with homozygous Tecessive (dd X dd). This type of mating brings about progressive increase in the number of homozygous Senotypes (DD and da) and a corresponding decrease in the number of heterozygotes (Dd) in a population. Ttcould be explained with the following table, ‘Table 2.1: Positive assortative mating results Possible parent Expected offspring mating patterns genotypes DD Da_[ ad DD X DD 4 0 0 Dd_X Dd 1 | ees dd X dd 0 0 4 ae 5 2 5 (42%) | (17%) | (42%) i) Negative assortative mating (heterogamy) : In this type of mating pattern, individuals with dissimilar genotypes and/or phenotypes mate with one another more frequently than would be expected under random mating. For example, mating between a tall and a dwarf individuals. Frequency of occurrence of this type of mating is very low ‘as compared to positive assortative mating. Heterogamy reduces the genetic similarities within the family. If ee ales such as ‘B’ and ‘b’ are considered to control a trait in a population, there will be six negative assortative mating patterns possible as shown in the following table. Since two alleles are considered, there would be three types of gene combinations possible, such as BB, Bb and bb. The net effect of heterogamy is a progressive increase in the frequency of heterozygous genotypes (Bb) and a corresponding decrease in homozygotes (BB and bb) in a population. Its effect is exactly opposite to the effect of positive assortative mating.‘Table 2.2 : Negative assortative mating results Possible parentmating Expected offspring genotypes Patterns BB Bb bb il BB X Bb 2 2 0 BB X bb 0 4 0 [axes [2 2 0 Bb_X_bb 0 bb X BB 0 4 0 bb _X Bb 0 2 2 Total 4(11%) | 16(67%) | 4(17%) Genetic drift : Sewall Wright explained idea of genetic drift in 1931. Therefore, genetic drift is known as Sewall Wright effect. Itrefers to the changes in gene frequency brought about purely by chance in small Populations. In small populations, some genes may increase or decrease in frequency or lost by chance. Thus, the gene pool of a population is changed without considering the usefulness of the traits, Such change in gene frequency takes place due to sampling error. ‘To understand the idea of sampling error, consider tossing experiment of a coin. When a coin is tossed for several times, the probability of occurrence of heads and tails is more or less equal. However, when same coin is tossed only for three to four times, it is possible that all will be heads or tails purely by chance. Thus, smaller the size of sample, greater will be the chance of deviation from the perfect result as seen in the above experiment. This disproportion of results in a small population is called sampling error. If a new generation draws its alleles at random, then larger the sample size, the better it will Tepresent the gene pool of the previous generation. However, in a small population existing gene pool may not be accurately represented in the next generation due to sampling error. Thus, the allelic frequencies in small populations allowed drifting by chance events from generation to generation, Hence, this force is called genetic drift. ‘Chance fluctuations in a small population go on continuously until one allele is lost and the others fixed. This process may yield 100% frequency of one allele, losing the other. That is p=1andq =0 or vice versa, where p is the frequency of one allele and q is of the other allele at one locus: From this information, it is very clear that the random fluctuations in a population may lead to complete fixation of one allele or the ather. An allele ean be completely lost from the population by chance, Genetic drift may be, induced by a bottleneck effect coined by Stebbins, According to him in large Populations, sometimes, a relatively few individuals survive out of them to form the progenitors for the population in next season. This seasonal or yearly cyclic phenomenon of population is knownas bottleneck effect which establishes in a population when it contracts toa significantly smaller size ‘over a short period due to some random environmental events. The bottleneck can resultin fundamental a changes in allele frequencies, completely independent of selection. For example, when the population of lemmings (small rodents) living in the Scandinavian mountains reaches extraordinarily high i every four years, they migrate to the coast, jump into the sea and die, Their population gets re= established by few lemmings remaining in the mountains.Founder Effect: Earnst Mayr coined the idea of ‘Founder Effect? in 1942 with respect to a newly established population, According to Mayr, when a new but isolated population is established from the parent population, its gene pool differs from that of the parent population duc to sampling error leading to ‘genotype as well as phenotype differences in them. Various evolutionary forces acting independently in the ‘wo populations further increase this difference in the gene pool. Finally, such difference leads to genetic diverge Following evolutionary changes are induced by founder effect in both the populations : 4) In comparison to large population, descendent small isolated population possesses unusual characters, 'b) Large population descended from afew immigrants may differ from the population from which the immigrants came. Natural selection : Various elemental forces of evolution bring about variations in the gene pool of a population. The genetic variations induce new phenotypes in the population, of which some are useful and some are harmful. The phenotype, which is useful for the organism in a given environments called adaptation and the genotype that is advantageous is said to be adapted. Asa natural phenomenon, every population tries to produce more progeny than the carrying capacity of its environment, leading to overpopulation. Due to this fact, individuals with better-adapted genotypes and phenotypes to the environment will produce compatible offsprings. Therefore, subsequent generation will have more presentation of such offspring with evolved forms. The process of selection of better-adapted individuals by the nature over less adapted individuals is called Natural Selection, 12 = 25% Figure 2.2 : Differential reproduction of genes caused by natural selection. One gene (A) spreads rapidity than the other gene (0)Nature selects favorable gene and provide them opportunity to spread in the population. ‘This leadsto the differential reproduction of genes by which some genes are favored over the others, thus shifting Hardy. ‘Weinberg equilibrium, The process of natural selection operates through the individuals that ure adapted to the environment, survive longer and reproduce ata higher rate. Less adapted individuals eproduce very slowly, thereby decline in number progressively. If differential reproduction ‘continues for Several generations, then the ‘genes of individuals producing more offspring will become predominant jn a ‘Bene pool of the population. Above diagram indicates the effect of differential reproduction in natura) selection, : Patterns of Natural Selection : In a broad sense, following three patterns of natural selection are described. 1. Stabilizing or Balancing selection : In this ype of selection, organisms having extreme characters ae eliminated and those having average Sure maintained. The group thus formed is homogenous, because most of the individuals Acquire mean character value. The rate of evolution in this type of selection is very low. Graphical Presentation of this selection yields a bell-shaped curve. The curve narrows due to elimination of extreme characters as shown below. Frequency Mean Figure 2.3 : Stabilizing selection 2, Directional or Progressive selection : In this selection, population changes in the direction in which its environment has changed, When environment changes continuously, those organisms which acquire new characters suited to the environment only will survive eliminating the others gradually. The idea of directional selection is explained with following examples. a) Peppered moth : A peppered moth, Beston betularia, exhibits a phenomenon of industrial melanism in the industrial city of Manchester in Great Britain, Prior to industrialization in 1845, light colored peppered moths inhabited the clean environment in Manchester. But due to progressive industrialization from 1845 to 1898, and ultimate deposition of smoke and soot, the surroundings turned black. This change in the environment threatened the moths as, on black background, the predator birds could easily locate light colored moths. Therefore, the number of moths drastically declined. However, in due course of time, change in the environment induced mutation in the gene responsible for pigmentation in the moths, Mutant gene started secreting dark colored pigments on large scale, thus, gray colored moths tured to black. They further concealed with the surroundings and were naturally protected from their enemy. This change in the color of peppered moth , according to changes in the environment explains the idea of directional selection. te fsb) Antibiotic resistance in bacteria : Escherichia coliis a bacterial strain found in the colon of man, Cavalli and Maccacro (1952) experimentally proved that E, colidevelop resistance to the antibiotic chloramphenicol about 250 times more than normal bacteria. Their experiment has proved that the resistance to chloramphenicol in £. coliis acquired by ‘mutations and subsequently inherited to the next generations, The resistant strains of E.coli, if, cultured in chloramphenicol free medium, grow much more slowly than the susceptible ones. Graphical presentation of this selection yields a bell-shaped curve as shown below. ¢) Resistance to pesticide: In agriculture, insecticides used to control pests do not induce hundred percent deaths in the target pest species, Those individuals that survive have become pesticide resistant due to frequent application of the pesticide. Such resistant flies give birth to resistant progeny. Thus, the resistant populations evolved as a selective advantage against pesticides. Frequency ISI 20 ORS OMI A B 2 25 Figure 2.4 : Directional selection Here, less adapted individuals are eliminated while fully adapted are selected and allowed to reproduce for many generations. 3. Disruptive selection : Inthis type of selection, organisms having extreme characters are preserved and those having average characters are eliminated from the population, Natural selection breaks a homogeneous population into many adaptive forms and results into balanced polymorphism, This kind of selection is very rare and eliminates most of the members with average characters thus producing two peaks in the distribution curve as shown below :Frequency Eliminated Eliminated Mean Mean Mean =) Conserved A B Figure 2.5 : Disruptive selection