wild-type
wild type
Geneticsadjective Referring to an organism or gene locus that predominates in natural or normal populations.
noun The normal condition of a whole organism (wild-type strain) or a particular mutation at a locus or site, which is indicated by a plus sign. The allele of a particular gene that confers the phenotype considered to be the "normal" type commonly found in natural populations. Because some DNA sequence polymorphisms do not produce different phenotypes, there can be multiple "wild-type" alleles of a gene.
Molecular biology
noun The naturally occurring phenotype of an organism; a strain of organism used as a standard reference with which to compare mutant derivatives.