1

M & M Genetics

by Tara Hamilton

Biology 100: Survey of Biology

Jeff Dykes
16 June 2014

ABSTRACT
Genetic drift is the phrase used to explain the changes in allele frequencies in
populations. There are two types of effects that can happen with genetic drift. These are founder
and bottleneck effects. M&M's can be used to simulate a population and the effects of genetic
drift on it. While genetic drift effects all populations, it can be hard to see or show the changes in
allele frequencies over time, so the smaller and manipulatable aspect of M&M's allows for the
scientist to see more measurable changes.

INTRODUCTION
Genetic drift is a stochastic process which means that it is entirely random in nature. It is
used to define the changes in evolution that are NOT due to natural selection. Although genetic
drift happens in populations of all sizes, it tends to even itself out in larger populations and
therefore does not have too significant an effect. In smaller populations, however, it is very
influential in the alleles that continue to be passed from parent to offspring. There are two types
of genetic drift and they are called founder and bottleneck effects.1
The founder effect is called such due to the fact that when a small population breaks off
from or is isolated from the larger group, the "founders" of that population genes become more
frequent. One example that can used to illustrate the founder effect is the existence of Ellis-van
Creveld syndrome in Old Order Amish of Pennsylvania. Although the syndrome is caused by
two recessive genes, in the Amish community there is a higher frequency of recessive genes
because the group marries and reproduces within the small society. The gene pool in this case is
fairly limited and interbreeding is an example of this.2
The bottleneck effect is when, due to a environmental cause or disaster such as tornadoes,
earthquakes, and floods, only a few of the original population survive. The gene pool is this case
is very limited and can now have a entirely different genetic frequency from the original
population. A way to think about this is in terms of a herd of animals crossing a river during a

1 Laurence A. Moran, "Random Genetic Drift," What Is Evolution?, Accessed June 16,
2014,
http://bioinfo.med.utoronto.ca/Evolution_by_Accident/Random_Genetic_Drift.html.
2 PBS, "Genetic Drift and the Founder Effect," PBS, (2001), Accessed June 16, 2014,
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/06/3/l_063_03.html.

flood. Only a small number of the original herd manage to safely cross. While before the herd
may have had more presence of dominate traits, the survivors may only have recessive traits in
their genetic pedigrees. Future offspring therefore would only show recessive traits as long as
this population remained isolated from others. It is important to note that the allele frequency in
this case could be any of a large amount of possibilites.3
I hypothesize that since genetic drift is the phrase used to define changes in allele
frequency in populations, that both the founder and bottleneck effects will result in some allele
frequencies being more "dominate" in the new population and will include the total absence of
some alleles as well.
METHODS
First I needed to determine the allele frequency in the initial population of 24 M&M's.
Each different color of the M&M's represented one allele, therefore there are a total of six
different alleles in the population Candus spectacularus. I made sure to place all the M&M's into
a cup and thoroughly mix them without looking to keep randomness in place as much as
possible. Once I had the total number of each allele present in the initial population I used the
formula:
Allele Frequency (%) = total # of each allele x100
total # of all alleles
Next I simulated a founder effect by removing six M&M's (alleles) from the cup without
looking and placed them on a paper towel. The six M&M's were the founding group. I used the

3 Professor John Blamire, "BIOdotEDU," BIOdotEDU, (2001), Accessed June 16, 2014,
http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/ahp/LAD/C21/C21_Bottleneck.html.

same formula to determine the allele frequency for this population. I then added the six back into
the cup and remixed them to ensure randomness.
For the bottleneck effect I removed 18 M&M's (alleles) without looking from the cup.
The removal of 18 was used to simulate a natural disaster killed off a large part of the population.
The remaining six M&M's (alleles) indicated the surviving portion of the population. Once again
I used the formula to determine the allele frequency for the population.

RESULTS
The initial population had 24 different alleles. Both the founding and bottlenecked
populations had only six alleles. Table 1 records the total number of each color allele for each
population. Table 2 records the allele frequency for each population.
Table 1
# of each allele per

Blue

Green

Yellow

Red

Orange

Brown

population
Initial Pop. (24)
Founder Pop. (6)
Bottleneck Pop. (6)
Table 2

7
2
0

4
1
3

4
1
0

3
0
1

3
0
1

3
2
1

Frequency of each

Blue

Green

Yellow

Red

Orange

Brown

allele per population

Initial Pop. (24)
Founder Pop. (6)
Bottleneck Pop. (6)

29.17%
33.33%
0%

16.67%
16.67%
50%

16.67%
16.67%
0%

12.5%
0%
16.67%

12.5%
0%
16.67%

12.5%
33.33%
16.67%

DISCUSSION

My hypothesis was proven true with the subsequent founder and bottleneck populations.
In the initial population, each allele was represented with Blue being the most frequent at
29.17% and Red, Orange, and Brown all being the least frequent at 12.5%. Green and Yellow
alleles were in the "midpoint" range of frequency.
When the founder population was studied and calculated, Red and Orange alleles ceased
to exist. Blue was still frequent, but Brown became more so as well. They were both at 33.33%.
Green and Yellow were still in the middle.
In the bottleneck population things again took a drastic change. Blue and Yellow now
ceased to exist and Green became the most frequently seen allele at 50%. Red, Orange, and
Brown fell back into the low frequency range like they were in the initial population.
These experiments with genetic drifts by use of M&M's as alleles really helps to show
how changes outside of natural selection can affect the evolution of a population.

LITERATURE CITED
See footnotes.