Hey, I realise this is an old thread now but if anyone could provide any more help, it would be much appreciated.
I ditched the whole thing after a bit of reading when I realised what I was suggesting couldn't be done, at least in an adequate time frame. However, a friend prompted me to look into it, I've done a bit more reading and realised it may not have been as bad as I first thought.
I'd really appreciate it if someone could provide a rough number for me or at least give me a way to figure it out. I'll provide as much information as possible and if any more is needed, ask away.
I'd like to determine the time to fixation for a single allele in a population of about 1 million.
The original mutant would be 'AA'... and everybody else would be 'aa'. The mutation 'A' would be dominant and it would be highly beneficial... if you need a number, give me a range I'll provide one. The mutation would also encourage killing of the wild type 'a'... So this is another edge for the 'A'. They would also produce a lot more children than 'a' would. So hopefully with those 3 combined edges, even from a single individual, fixation of 'AA' shouldn't take too long? Reproduction would also be more or less random.
However, am I right in thinking that a dominant allele would not be fixed... and that Aa would become more common? Because if the survival benefit is in 'A' then 'AA' would have no more benefit than 'Aa' which would automatically become more common through random reproduction, right?
This explains what I mean: Complete recessiveness of an allele alone prevents the loss of that allele due to selection alone. Because the heterozygote's relative fitness is equal to the homozygote with both beneficial alleles, the deleterious allele is maintained in the population. Loosely put, the deleterious allele "is hidden" from selection in the heterozygous state.
If this is correct... then switching 'A' and 'a' and making the mutant allele recessive would solve the problem, correct? Either way, I would like to know how long it would take for a beneficial 'A' or 'a' to become fixated in a population of 1 million. 200,000 and 20,000. dominant or recessive.
Or if you could provide a simple formula for me to use, that would be appreciated to!