founder effect

American  

noun

Biology.

1. the accumulation of random genetic changes in an isolated population as a result of its proliferation from only a few parent colonizers.

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Example Sentences

In isolated populations like Sardinia’s, where inbreeding was common, such rare variants can become more frequent, a phenomenon called the founder effect.

From Science Magazine • Nov. 20, 2024

Both the bottleneck effect and the founder effect reduce genetic variation within a population—and genetic variation is the basis for natural selection.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

However, the bottleneck effect occurs after a cataclysmic event, whereas the founder effect occurs when mutations introduce new alleles into a population.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

Both the bottleneck and founder effect change the genetic structure of a population.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

In this situation, those individuals are unlikely to be representative of the entire population which results in the founder effect.

From Textbooks • Apr. 25, 2013