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Mr_Mojo_Risin_83 t1_jdoucxb wrote

Reply to comment by Captain-Griffen in ELI5: How come recessive genes don't die out? by JackytheWriter

in the case of the goldfish though, if only 1% carry the gene, then there's almost no bright gold ones and when there are, the birds can see them and eat them easier. the bird is unlikely to push away from the behaviour of 'being able to see brightly coloured things more than dark things.'

if the other 99% aren't carrying the gene at all then they carry on reproducing dark colours with absolutely no chance of their offspring being gold coloured.

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Imaginary_Wolf_8698 t1_jdq6gxp wrote

That’s not a recessive gene though. If 1% of the population carries a recessive gene (and assuming it’s equally in male and female) then 0.025% of the population or 1 in 40000 offspring will actually have the recessive trait. This is why it’s almost impossible to eliminate a recessive gene from a gene pool.

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Mr_Mojo_Risin_83 t1_jdq6yeh wrote

yeah i was using the figures supplied by the person above. in most real situations, we usually have a broader dispersion of genetics than 99% vs 1%.

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