wild type
- noun
- /waɪld taɪp/
- Specialized
- In genetic studies, the wild type serves as the control against which all mutant strains are measured.
- wild-type bovine
- wild-type mice
- wild-type protein
Examples
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Any fly that isn't a mutant is wild type and vice versa.
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And that's what we call wild type virus.
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OK, so this is for wild type normal yeast.
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As the animals get older than the wild type animals, than the normal animals still show very nice orderly place cells.
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To our great surprise, though, when the spores developed, the knockout was underrepresented compared to the wild type.
Academic text (2007) -
Kochian is studying differences between these mutants and a wild type of Arabidopsis to identify the molecular basis of tolerance.
Academic text (2000) -
The recombinant virus is designed to kill pest caterpillars more quickly than the wild-type virus.
Academic text (1995) -
We tested for this possibility by performing a chemotaxis assay on wild-type animals toward or away from ethanol.
Academic text (2017) -
WRA scores "highly domesticated" plants as less weedy than their wild-type progenitors.
Academic text (2008) -
Indigenous wild-type poliovirus (WPV) remains endemic to three countries: Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (1).
Academic text (2013)
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'the naturally occurring or standard form' is directly derivable from combining 'wild' (natural, untamed) with 'type' (a class or form). Although used as a technical genetics term, the core meaning 'natural form/variant' follows straightforward composition and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituents.
Etymology
Wild type as a noun comes from naming the common 'type' seen in the wild: wild means 'in nature' and type means 'form'. That's why the noun refers to the natural, common version scientists use to compare with mutants.