Genetic Trait Spreading...

[SDJonathan]

Hey, I'm writing a novel, and I was just wondering if somebody could help me out with this question I have...

Let's say somebody has a beneficial mutation, and has one child before dying.

Is there any way to tell, based on how much time has passed since the life of this person, what percentage of the world's population will have this trait?

I'd really appreciate some help here, because it's pretty important to my book, and I don't want to screw it up royally.

[DaemonZeiro]

Wouldn't it depend on whether or not that individual bred like a rabbit or not? That and it depends on what kind of mutation this is. Take Scottish Fold cats vs. American curl cats. Scottish folds have ears bent forward and American curls have ears bent backward; the scottish folds are a result of a dominant allelic mutation; meaning you need only one copy to get a scottish fold (you can breed with a non-scottish fold) with folded ears while American Curls are a result of a recessive mutation meaning both cats must have the mutant gene and the kitten must have two copies of the mutation.

I strongly recommend you do some research on Mendelian inheritance if you have zero background on this. Calculating how much of the world will have inherited a certain trait also depends on non-biological social factors. More questions of this type on genetic distribution would be better aimed at ecologists who study animal movement.

[SDJonathan]

Originally Posted by DaemonZeiro

Wouldn't it depend on whether or not that individual bred like a rabbit or not? That and it depends on what kind of mutation this is. Take Scottish Fold cats vs. American curl cats. Scottish folds have ears bent forward and American curls have ears bent backward; the scottish folds are a result of a dominant allelic mutation; meaning you need only one copy to get a scottish fold (you can breed with a non-scottish fold) with folded ears while American Curls are a result of a recessive mutation meaning both cats must have the mutant gene and the kitten must have two copies of the mutation.

I strongly recommend you do some research on Mendelian inheritance if you have zero background on this. Calculating how much of the world will have inherited a certain trait also depends on non-biological social factors. More questions of this type on genetic distribution would be better aimed at ecologists who study animal movement.

Huh... thanks for the info. Is there a place on this forum where should redirect this question to?

[danfive]

Originally Posted by SDJonathan

Huh... thanks for the info. Is there a place on this forum where should redirect this question to?

You need to ask people into Population Genetics or just plain Genetics. I don't think we have that kind of forum.