Human Genetics and Genetic Diseases

Evolutionary and Population Genetics

The goal of our previous discussions in this class has been to understand the inheritance of a single trait, a trait that may be controlled by one, a few, or many genes. The goal of population genetics is different. Rather than studying the inheritance of a trait, population genetics attempts to describe how the frequency of the alleles which control the trait change over time. To study frequency changes, we analyze populations rather than individuals. Furthermore, because changes in gene frequencies are at the heart of evolution and speciation, population and evolutionary genetics are often studied together.