Understanding the Concepts

* Hardy-Weinberg Principle: This principle describes how allele frequencies in a population remain stable from generation to generation in the absence of evolutionary influences.

* Allele Frequencies: 'p' represents the frequency of one allele (in this case, the allele for red color), and 'q' represents the frequency of the other allele (in this case, the allele for a different color).

* Key Equation: The Hardy-Weinberg equation is p² + 2pq + q² = 1. This equation relates allele frequencies to genotype frequencies.

Calculations

1. Find the frequency of the red allele (p):

* Since 59 out of 100 organisms are red, the frequency of the red phenotype is 0.59.

* Assuming this trait is determined by a single gene with two alleles, the frequency of the red allele (p) is the square root of the frequency of the red phenotype: √0.59 ≈ 0.77

2. Calculate the frequency of the other allele (q):

* The sum of the frequencies of all alleles for a gene must equal 1. Therefore:

* p + q = 1

* q = 1 - p

* q = 1 - 0.77

* q = 0.23

Answer: The value of q is 0.23.