2009 National DNA Day Online Chatroom Transcript

This is just one question from an archive of the National DNA Day Moderated Chat held in April 2009. The NHGRI Director and many genomics experts from across NHGRI took questions from students, teachers and the general public on topics ranging from basic genomic research, to the genetic basis of disease, to ethical questions about genetic privacy.

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Does Hardy Weinberg equilibrium apply to the human race?      Michael Dougherty, PhD: I'm the director of education for the American Society of Human Genetics. I help to educate people about the importance and role of genetics in their lives. The Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is a method for determining whether a population is changing genetically, for example, if it's evolving. It depends on examining the allele frequencies in populations. There are many parameters that must be met for a population to be in equilibrium. In human populations, many of these are not met, for example, humans do not mate randomly. Thus, our population has changed over evolutionary history and will likely continue to change. B.B.S.P.Nag SMVCBT, Nagpur, INDIA (teacher)

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