wild type

noun Genetics.

an organism having an appearance that is characteristic of the species in a natural breeding population.
the form or forms of a gene commonly occurring in nature in a given species.

Related formswild-type, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for wild type

Contemporary Examples of wild type

The wild-type mice were given random compounds, along with half of the mutants.
Trial Drug Reverses Alzheimer’s Disease in Mice
Elizabeth Lopatto
May 24, 2014

Historical Examples of wild type

The F1 (wild-type) flies from bow male by arc female were inbred.
Sex-linked Inheritance in Drosophila
Thomas Hunt Morgan
Yellow sable males were bred to wild females and F1 consisted of wild-type males and females.
Sex-linked Inheritance in Drosophila
Thomas Hunt Morgan
When a dot male with vermilion eyes was bred to a wild female the offspring were wild-type males and females.
Sex-linked Inheritance in Drosophila
Thomas Hunt Morgan
The wild-type daughters were back-crossed to double recessive males and gave the results (mass cultures) shown in table 13.
Sex-linked Inheritance in Drosophila
Thomas Hunt Morgan
But that they are genetically different mutations is at once shown on crossing any two, when wild-type offspring are produced.
Sex-linked Inheritance in Drosophila
Thomas Hunt Morgan

British Dictionary definitions for wild type

wild type

noun

biology the typical form of a species of organism resulting from breeding under natural conditions

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

wild type in Medicine

wild type

[wīld]

The typical form of an organism, strain, gene, or characteristic as it occurs in nature, as distinguished from mutant forms that may result from selective breeding.