The Hardy-Weinberg principle and its applications in modern population genetics

Abstract

The discovery of the Hardy-Weinberg principle marked the beginning of the field of population genetics. Over the past hundred years, it has provided a starting point for many population genetic investigations. In this review, the Hardy-Weinberg principle, its statistical testing, and several of its applications in various modern population genetic research areas, including allelic variability and selection in the human leukocyte antigen region, microsatellite genotyping error detection, and accuracy of haplotype estimation, are discussed.

Keywords

the Hardy-Weinberg principle / statistical testing / population genetics / human leukocyte antigens / microsatellite genotyping / haplotype estimation