The Dunkers are a religious group that moved from Germany to Pennsylvania in the mid-1700s. They do not marry with members outside their own immediate community. Today, the Dunkers are genetically unique and differ in gene frequencies, at many loci, from all other populations including those in their original homeland. Which of the following likely explains the genetic uniqueness of this population?

A) population bottleneck and Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
B) heterozygote advantage and stabilizing selection
C) sexual selection and inbreeding depression
D) mutation and natural selection
E) founder effect and genetic drift

Dunkers moved to Pennsylvania and inhabited a new area to develop a new population. This new population might not have the same gene pool and the same allele frequencies for all the genes as present in the original population. The change in the allele frequencies of a population due to the colonization of a new area by a few members is called the founder effect.

The small size of the new population of Dunkers present in Pennsylvania was more likely to be affected by any chance event which could have added more uniqueness to their gene pool. This is called genetic drift. Therefore, the genetic uniqueness of their population from all the other populations and from their original population might be the result of founder effect and genetic drift.