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In biology, polymorphism [1] is the occurrence of two or more clearly different morphs or forms, also referred to as alternative phenotypes, in the population of a species. To be classified as such, morphs must occupy the same habitat at the same time and belong to a panmictic population (one with random mating).
All the flies look alike whatever inversions they carry: this is an example of a cryptic polymorphism. Accordingly, Dobzhansky favoured the idea that the morphs became fixed in the population by means of Sewall Wright's drift. [54] However, evidence rapidly accumulated to show that natural selection was responsible: Drosophila polytene ...
Polymorphism is a general concept in biology where more than one version of a trait is present in a population. In some cases of differing counts, the difference in chromosome counts is the result of a single chromosome undergoing fission , where it splits into two smaller chromosomes, or two undergoing fusion, where two chromosomes join to ...
Polymorphisms can be identified in the laboratory using a variety of methods. Many methods employ PCR to amplify the sequence of a gene. Once amplified, polymorphisms and mutations in the sequence can be detected by DNA sequencing, either directly or after screening for variation with a method such as single strand conformation polymorphism analysis.
Frequency-dependent selection may explain the high degree of polymorphism in the MHC. [12] In behavioral ecology, negative frequency-dependent selection often maintains multiple behavioral strategies within a species. A classic example is the Hawk-Dove model of interactions among individuals in a population.
Incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) [1] [2] [3] (also referred to as hemiplasy, deep coalescence, retention of ancestral polymorphism, or trans-species polymorphism) is a phenomenon in evolutionary biology and population genetics that results in discordance between species and gene trees.
In molecular biology, SNP array is a type of DNA microarray which is used to detect polymorphisms within a population. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), a variation at a single site in DNA, is the most frequent type of variation in the genome.
Polymorphism can be maintained by selection favoring the heterozygote, and this mechanism is used to explain the occurrence of some kinds of genetic variability. A common example is the case where the heterozygote conveys both advantages and disadvantages, while both homozygotes convey a disadvantage.