What is the relative fitness of a neutral allele typically considered to be?

The relative fitness of a neutral allele is considered to be 1.00 because neutral alleles do not confer any advantage or disadvantage to the organisms that carry them in terms of survival or reproduction in a given environment. This means that the fitness of individuals with a neutral allele is equal to that of individuals without it.

In evolutionary terms, a relative fitness of 1.00 serves as a baseline or reference point. It indicates that these neutral alleles are neither selected for nor against, allowing them to persist in the population solely due to genetic drift or random changes. As a result, their frequency in the population can fluctuate over time without being influenced by natural selection, in contrast to alleles that confer a fitness advantage or disadvantage, which would have a relative fitness greater or less than 1.00, respectively.

This understanding is crucial in studies of population genetics and evolutionary biology, showcasing how genetic variation can exist in a population even when it does not directly influence fitness.