wild type
nounDefinition of wild type
: a phenotype, genotype, or gene that predominates in a natural population of organisms or strain of organisms in contrast to that of natural or laboratory mutant forms
also
: an organism or strain displaying the wild type
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Examples of wild type in a Sentence
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From a social behavior standpoint, as Sanjuán and his colleagues pointed out in their paper, the wild-type VSV’s suppression of interferon qualifies as an altruistic act because in effect the wild type sacrifices itself for the cheater. — Quanta Magazine, "Viruses Have a Secret, Altruistic Social Life," 15 Apr. 2019 With the explosion in hydrangea popularity, somebody thought it a great idea to market the old, mostly fertile flowered, wild type. — Paul Cappiello, The Courier-Journal, "Why this Kentucky plant is the 'Manolo Blahniks' of the garden world," 22 June 2018 After years of comparing the ancient seeds with wild types, Mueller has found two unmistakable signs of domestication: larger fruits and thinner fruit skins. — Annalee Newitz, Ars Technica, "Hunting for the ancient lost farms of North America," 26 Jan. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'wild type.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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