In a population of deer mice, the allele for white hair is recessive and the allele for brown hair is dominant. If the population consists of 500 individuals and the frequency of homozygous brown mice is 49%, what is the frequency of the recessive allele

The frequency of recessive allele should be 0.30.

Explanation:

According to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, sum of both dominant allele frequency (p) and recessive allele frequency (q) should be equal to 1 (p+q = 1).

Brown hair = dominant (p)

white hair = recessive (q)

49% mice are brown hair

so dominant genotype frequency = 0.49

According to Hardy-Weinberg principle, square root of the genotype (homozygous) is equal to allele frequency.

√p = √0.49 = 0.70

The dominant allele frequency is 0.7

Now, by this value we can find the recessive allele frequency by

p + q = 1

1 - 0.7 = 0.3

So, the recessive allele (white hair mice) frequency is 0.30.