auxotrophy

English

Etymology

auxo- +‎ -trophy

Noun

auxotrophy (usually uncountable, plural auxotrophies)

1. (biology) The inability of a microorganism to synthesize an organic compound required for its growth, often as a result of mutation.
   • 1951 March, K. C. Atwood, “Periodic Selection in Escherichia Coli”, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, volume 37, number 3, page 146:

     There are reasons for believing that the mutation rates to auxotrophy are in general higher than the rates to prototrophy.

Coordinate terms

• prototrophy

Related terms

• auxotroph, auxotrophic, auxotrophically
• autotrophy