Wild type
Synonym(s)
DefinitionThis section has been translated automatically.
Term used in genetics to describe a living being whose genome is in a state as it has naturally developed through evolution. The term wild type is
used for the entire organism as well as for individual genes.
If the term wild type is used for a single gene, the corresponding allele is called a "wild type allele"; alleles which differ from the wild type are called mutant alleles, and
the whole organism is called a mutant. When mutants reach a significant proportion of the population, this is called polymorphism.
Non-wild types are created by mutation. They are present in nature in low frequency. Since they are recessive in most cases, they can only affect the phenotype if they are homozygous.
By means of the Cis-Trans test, a complementarity test, a methodical approach is given to clarify whether
2 given mutations affect 2 different alleles of a gene, or whether two different genes are affected.