Expert: Sophia Jane Carter - 3/4/2008

Question
Hi there. Could you please explain heterozygocity and gene diversity to me in
simple terms? Keeping it simple an steering away from genetics, if I wanted
to get a 'H' figure for the religious diversity of a population, for example, say
10 people where 2 are christian, 3 atheist, 2 muslim and 3 jewish, how would
I go about getting a 'H' value?

Many thanks.

Answer
Thanks for the question, Matt.  Heterozygosity can be a tricky concept.  I'm not sure I can couch this the religious terms that you describe, but I'll try.

An allele is a version of a gene, just as Christianity and Islam are versions of religions.

GENE = RELIGION
ALLELE = PARTICULAR RELIGION

In simple terms, heterozygous means "different alleles".

So two unlike alleles would be like two different religions, while two like alleles would be equal to the same religion.

CHRISTIAN + CHRISTIAN == HOMOZYGOUS (Homo means same)
CHRISTIAN + JEW == HETEROZYGOUS
BUDDHIST + MUSLIM == HETEROZYGOUS
BUDDHIST + BUDDHIST == HOMOZYGOUS

I'm not sure I can use the above example to illustrate the H value.

Hope that helps.