Founder Effect - Genetic Characteristics Of Founder Populations, Founder Populations Can Be Valuable For Genetic Studies

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The term "founder effect" refers to the observation that when a small group of individuals breaks off from a larger population and establishes a new population, chance plays a large role in determining which alleles are represented in the new population. The particular alleles may not be representative of the larger population. As the new population grows, the allele frequencies will usually continue to reflect the original small group.

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Founder Effect - Genetic Characteristics Of Founder Populations

Because the founder population is small, genetic drift can play an important role in determining the genetic makeup of subsequent generations, and allele frequencies may fluctuate. For example, consider an extreme situation where a new population is founded by just two individuals, a male and a female, perhaps because they are stranded on an island. Assume that the The Hutterite colony, to whi…

Founder Effect - Founder Populations Can Be Valuable For Genetic Studies

The same forces that lead to increased risk of disease also make founder populations particularly useful for identifying which genes are involved in genetic disease. Since the founder population is derived from a small number of individuals, it is likely that those individuals with a particular disease have a common genetic profile, rather than having multiple different disease mutations or suscep…

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