DNA Polymorphism and Genetic Variation — NEET Biology

Allelic (again recall the definition of alleles from Chapter 4) sequence variation has traditionally been described as a DNA polymorphism if more than one variant (allele) at a locus occurs in human population with a frequency greater than 0.01. In simple terms, if an inheritable mutation is observed in a population at high frequency, it is referred to as DNA polymorphism. The probability of such variation to be observed in non-coding DNA sequence would be higher as mutations in these sequences may not have any immediate effect/impact in an individual's reproductive ability. These mutations keep on accumulating generation after generation, and form one of the basis of variability/polymorphism. There is a variety of different types of polymorphisms ranging from single nucleotide change to very large scale changes. For evolution and speciation, such polymorphisms play very important role, and you will study these in details at higher classes.