auxotrophic

Definitions

adjective Requiring one or more specific substances for growth and metabolism that the parental organism was able to synthesize on its own. Used with respect to organisms, such as strains of bacteria, algae, or fungi, that can no longer synthesize certain growth factors because of mutational changes.

adjective biology Describing a strain of organism that requires a specific metabolic substance that the parent organism was able to synthesize by itself

[Greek auxein, to increase; see auxin + –trophic.]

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word auxotrophic.

Mutation rates can be increased to one mutational event in every 10e1 or 10e2 cells per generation for auxotrophic mutants, and one in 10e3 to 10e5 for the isolation of improved secondary metabolite producers.

1 Upgrading Traditional Biotechnological Processes 1992
For example the parasites are auxotrophic for tryptophan and arginine (12-14).

PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles 2009
B: The 15 strains from A were spotted onto the indicated plates, grown for 2-3 days at 30°C and subsequently analyzed for auxotrophic marker distribution.

PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles Sven D. Willger et al. 2009
The 3xABF2+ strain is not auxotrophic for tryptophan and uracil.

PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles Heidi M. Blank et al. 2009
For example, the increased transcription of SNZ1 and SNO1 in wild type (ABF2+) cells was expected because expression of these genes is increased in strains auxotrophic for tryptophan and uracil, such as the wild-type (ABF2+) strain.

PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles Heidi M. Blank et al. 2009
(auxotrophic) mutant strains of Neurospora, and to show that each single deficiency produced was associated with the mutation of a single gene11.

Edward Tatum - Nobel Lecture 1964
usually involves read-through of nonsense alleles in auxotrophic markers, e.g. ade1-14 (UAG) or ade2-1 (UAA).

PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles Marc Erhardt et al. 2010