GENETICS OF

AQUACULTURE ANIMALS
(SQ23103)

POPULATION GENETICS

DR. NAZIA BINTI ABDUL KADAR

BORNEO MARINE RESEARCH
INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA
SABAH, MALAYSIA
Species
 group of organisms that can reproduce naturally (interbreed) with one another
and create fertile offspring.
 Species Diversity

diversity among species

in an ecosystem (# of
species and relative
abundance)
Speciation

The formation of new and distinct species

involves the splitting of a single
evolutionary lineage into two or more
genetically independent lineages.
 Population
- group of interbreeding organisms of the
same species living in the same geographical
area.

 Population genetics
- the study of genetic variation within
populations, changes in the frequencies of
genes and alleles in populations over space
and time.
Gene pool

• consist of all the genes and alleles in an

interbreeding population (same species)

• each member of the population receives its alleles from

other members of the gene pool (its parents) and passes
them on to other members of the gene pool (its
offspring)

• variation occurs among the genes within a population

Genetic variation
 difference in allele frequencies between
individuals
 genetic variation of an entire species is
called genetic diversity
 occurs within and among populations

Assorted colours of kernels

WHAT CAUSES GENETIC VARIATION?

1. Gene Mutation
-source of new allele in a population
-changes in the DNA sequences can result
in new traits
-evolutionary change is based on the
accumulation of many mutations
2. Sexual reproduction
New combinations of traits can be
created in gametes due to crossing over
(exchange of genetic material between
homologous chromosomes)
&
independent assortment (random
combination of chromosomes) during
meiosis
3. Gene flow Population
A

 Exchange of genes between two populations

 Introduction of new allele into a population
-increases variability within the population and makes
possible new combinations of traits.

Population
 Movement of individual from one population to another B
population
Immigration (new individuals enter the population)
Emigration (individuals leave the population)
▪ A population may gain or lose alleles through gene flow

▪ Maintain genetic diversity in a population but decrease diversity between

populations

▪ Gene flow reduce the differences between populations because members

of each population can interbreed and genes are essentially shared or
transferred between the two populations.

▪ This makes the two gene pools become more similar.

4. Genetic drift

 random fluctuations in number of alleles in a population

 allele frequency increase /decrease over time
 effects are strongest in small populations.–lost of rare allele
 happens after bottleneck event;
a significant number of individuals in a population die or are otherwise
prevented from breeding, resulting in a drastic decrease in the size of the
population
Bottleneck

• An event that drastically reduces

population size
• Significant % of a population/
species is killed/ prevented from
reproducing
Reduced genetic variation means that the population may not be able
to adapt to new selection pressures, such as climatic change or a shift
in available resources, because the genetic variation that selection
would act on may have already drifted out of the population.
5. Founder effect

 Few individuals from a population start a new population with a different allele
frequency from the original population

 Geographical separation of a subset of the population

 Reduced genetic variation from the original population.

 Less
variation

Greater
variation Founder
population

Changes in the gene pool caused

by a small population migrating
to a new area

Mother population
Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection
Darwin
1809-1882
 Natural selection - a process in which individual organisms or
phenotypes that possess favourable traits are more likely to survive
and reproduce (adaptation to environment)
• Evolution - the change in the genetic composition of a population over successive
generations

• Survival of the fittest - the fittest individuals are simply the ones who have the
combination of traits that allow them to survive and produce more offspring that
in turn survive to reproduce

• More individuals are produced each generation that can survive.

 Phenotypic variation exists among individuals and the
variation is heritable.
 Those individuals with heritable traits better suited to the
environment will survive.
 When reproductive isolation occurs new species will form.
 Types of Natural Selection

3. Diversifying/ Disruptive
2. Directional selection selection
1. Stabilizing selection
- Favours one extreme - Favours both extreme traits
- Culls extreme traits
trait

https://youtu.be/64JUJdZdDQo
 •Darwin observed the Galapagos finches
had a graded series of beak sizes and
shapes and predicted these species were
modified from one original mainland
species.

•Darwin called differences among species

natural selection, which is caused by the
inheritance of traits, competition between
individuals, and the variation of traits.

Differences in beak shape were an adaption toward acquiring particular food source.
Differences in beak shape were an adaption toward acquiring particular food source.
Adaptive radiation

• An evolutionary process that produces new species from a single, rapidly

diversifying lineage.

• Rapid increase in the number of species with a common ancestor

• Due to 1. Habitat destruction

2. Mass extinction
3. New habitat formation
WHY GENETIC VARIATION IS IMPORTANT?

 Allow individuals to survive despite a changing environment.

 New alleles increase an organism's ability to survive and reproduce, which

then ensures the survival of the allele in the population.

 Neutral alleles are neither selected for nor against and usually remain in the
population.
Within and between populations

 Identification of population structure

 Management units
 Evolutionary significant units
 Population structure

FST

- DIFFERENCE IN THE ALLELE FREQUENCY BETWEEN TWO

POPULATIONS

- EXTENT OF GENETIC DIFFERENTIATION AMONG

SUBPOPULATIONS
 FST 0 - 1

 0 = complete sharing of genetic material / no differentiation

 1 = no sharing of genetic material / complete differentiation
- they do not breed with one another
- they are completely isolated from one another.
 HIGH GENETIC DIVERSITY LOW GENETIC DIVERSITY
Large populations retain high genetic Small, isolated populations lose genetic
diversity diversity

• Higher adaptive capacity • Lower adaptive capacity

• Potential for long term survival • Weak potential for long term survival
• High resilience • Low resilience
 INBREEDING

 Mating of related individuals with at least one common ancestor

 One of the most important aspects of managing a fish farm or fish culture is
the management of the population's effective breeding number, because
inbreeding is inversely related to the effective breeding number.

 Inbreeding depression refers to the reduced fitness of offspring produced by

related individuals and is expected to be rare in large outbred populations
FIS –inbreeding coefficient
- probability that two alleles in an individual are identical by descent
- reduction in heterozygosity of an individual due to non-random mating
within a sub-population
- measure of the extent of genetic inbreeding within subpopulations.
 -1
 all individuals are heterozygous
 heterozygote excess (outbreeding)

+1
 no observed heterozygous Reduced survival
and fertility of
 heterozygote deficiency (inbreeding) offspring
Consequences of inbreeding

1. Inbreeding does not change gene frequency, but change genotype

frequencies.
2. It increases homozygosity and decrease heterozygosity.
3. Repeated inbreeding may discard some valuable alleles.
4. Causes inbreeding depression - decrease in growth rate, fecundity,
etc. that is observed in the inbred group when it is compared to a
control population where there is no inbreeding.
5. Lowered egg production capacity
6. Decrease fertility rate
7. Fry become either large or small. Medium size fry is not
observed. At least 25% fry die in each inbreeding
8. Increased expression of recessive genes
9. Lowered viability
10. Loss of genetic variation within the inbred population
Inbreeding depression occurs because species contain a load of rare
harmful partially recessive alleles due to mutation-selection balance, and
because some loci exhibit heterozygote advantage. Inbreeding increases
homozygosity at these loci exposing harmful recessive alleles in
homozygotes.
1. Low diversity red fish population, with
only one allele (AA).
2. To help boost genetic diversity, orange
fish (TT allele) and green fish (GG allele)
introduced into the population.
3. However, the TT allele is not adaptive
and individuals with the TT gene quickly
die out.
4. Individual with the GG gene, however,
do well, and continue to integrate into
the red population.
5. Over time, these two variants mix
together as the two populations
hybridise and overall fitness will
increase for the population.
 Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium

 The frequency of alleles and genotypes in a population will remain constant

from generation to generation if the population is stable and in genetic
equilibrium
 Proposed by G. Hardy and W. Weinberg in 1908
 If the genotype frequencies in a population deviate from Hardy-Weinberg
expectations, it takes only one generation of random mating to bring them into
the equilibrium proportions
Assumptions of HWE

1. Large population size

2. No migration
-no genetic material exchange/ gene flow
3. No mutation
-No new alleles are introduced

4. No natural selection
-All alleles confer equal fitness (make organisms equally likely to
survive and reproduce)
5. Random mating
-no preference for certain genotypes

-Allele frequencies do not

change
-No evolution
 HWE PRINCIPLE
Because genotypes
consist of two alleles
(p + q)2 = 1
p+q=1 The total frequency
of both alleles will
p= frequency of dominant allele be 100%
q= frequency of recessive allele

p2 + 2pq + q2 = 1
p2 = frequency of homozigous dominant genotype (AA)
2pq = frequency of heterozygous genotype (Aa)
P2 + pq+pq +q2
q2 = frequency of homozygous recessive genotype (aa) P2+ 2pq + q2
• Selection, mutation, migration, and
genetic drift affect changes in allele
frequencies, and when one or more
of these forces are acting, the
population violates Hardy-Weinberg
assumptions, and evolution occurs.

• The Hardy-Weinberg Theorem thus

constitutes a null model for the
discipline of population genetics, and
is fundamental to the study of
evolution.
 QUESTION

 The frequency of two alleles in a gene pool is 0.19 (A) and 0.81(a).
Assume that the population is in HWE

Q: Calculate the percentage of homozygous recessives in the

population in percentage.
THE HOMOZYGOUS RECESSIVE INDIVIDUALS ARE
REPRESENTED BY THE Q2

TERM IN THE HWE

EQUATION WHICH EQUALS
(aa)
0.81 × 0.81 = 0.66
66%
SOLVING HARDY WEINBERG PROBLEMS

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Thank
you!