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Sources of Genetic Variation
Genetic variation
The measure of the variation that exists in the genetic makeup of individual within the population is called genetic variation. Genetic variation allows natural selection to increase or decrease the frequency of alleles already in population, and it has an essential force of evolution. The following are causes of genetic variation.
- Mutation (may create entirely new alleles in population)
- Random mating
- Random fertilization
- Recombination or crossing over, this is between homologous chromosomes due to meiosis
The code that determines hair colour and eye colour, height and other genetic characteristics are called alleles. During meiosis one of the two alleles is acquired by each gamete, as chromosomes separate into different gametes. A single variation of genes is known as an allele. The variation for the whole spices is known as genetic diversity. The production alleles and new genes by the process of gene duplication and mutation can increase genetic variation. There is an arrangement of existing genes in new ways, and this is from chromosomal crossing over and recombination in sexual reproduction. However, the formation of new alleles, the altering of gene number or rapid reproduction, and sexual reproduction are the primary sources of genetic variation.
The changes in the DNA are called mutations. Each mutation usually has a substantial effect, but many situations, evolutionary change is based on the accumulation of different mutations. The significant source of genetic variation is called gene flow, and this is any movement of genes from one to another population. Sexual reproduction can introduce new gene combination into a population. There are chromosome mutations which occur as a result of errors in crossing over during meiosis. Deletions, translocations, duplications and inversion, are different types of chromosomal mutations. Mutation can kill the recipient because they are harmful. Instead of mutation, kill the individual, they become a source of new variation.
Work Cited
Armstrong, David, et al. “Human genetic variation (I): an introduction.” (2017).