●HW is a peculiarity of obligate sexual, diploid organisms

●HW is a generalization of a Mendelian cross

●HW describes the probabilities of randomly pairing combinations of two alleles

●HW was formulated by Hardy in an attempt to explain why dominant alleles do not take over by virtue of their dominance

●In evolution, HW equilibrium is boring

●In evolution, HW disequilibrium is interesting

●HW assumes random mating in an infinitely large population of strictly sexual, diploid organisms

●HW assumes equal allele frequencies regardless of sex or geographic location

●HW assumes discrete generations (Fisher-Wright model)

●Properties

  for 2 alleles

  for multiple alleles

Excess heterozygotes

Unequal frequencies in the sexes (F₁)

Overdominance

Heterozygote deficit

Assortative mating

Inbreeding

Wahlund effect

Underdominance