HWE
Science & Engineering abbreviation · Genetics
| Stands for | Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium |
|---|---|
| Categories | Science & Engineering |
HWE stands for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, a genetics abbreviation.
Principle that allele and genotype frequencies in a large, randomly mating population stay constant across generations when there is no selection, mutation, migration or drift. For a gene with two alleles at frequencies p and q, genotypes occur as p squared, 2pq and q squared.
Example: SNPs that deviated strongly from HWE in controls were removed as possible genotyping errors.
Usage notes
English mathematician G. H. Hardy and German physician Wilhelm Weinberg described the principle independently in 1908. It lets geneticists estimate carrier frequencies, for instance of cystic fibrosis, from disease frequency. Departures from HWE can signal genotyping errors, inbreeding or population mixture.
Related abbreviations
More genetics abbreviations
- FISH – Fluorescence in situ hybridization
- GC – Guanine-cytosine (content)
- gDNA – Genomic DNA
- GWAS – Genome-wide association study
- HDR – Homology-directed repair
- HGP – Human Genome Project
- indel – Insertion-deletion
- kb – Kilobase
- LD – Linkage disequilibrium
- lncRNA – Long non-coding RNA
- LOD – Logarithm of the odds (score)
- MAF – Minor allele frequency