Question

Fill in the blanks:

Organisms that cannot synthesize growth factors are called ____ while their wild-type counter parts are called ____.

Answer 1

Growth factors are particular chemicals which are required for stimulation of growth in animals. Wild type amd mutant type are seen in some bacterial population. Some bacteria are capable of synthesizing all of its required growthfactor like purine, pyrimidines, aminoacids etc. So no nutrients needs to be added in the culture media. This type i.e., the wildtype is called Prototrophs.

Now, there are some mutant type. They cannot synthesize all of the required nutrients. So, for their growth in lab, we need to add some specific ingredient which is not produced by them. These mutants are called Auxotrophs.