Auxotrophy

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Auxotrophy is the inability of an organism to synthesize a particular organic compound required for its growth (as defined by IUPAC). An auxotroph is an organism that displays this characteristic; auxotrophic is the corresponding adjective. Auxotrophy is the opposite of prototrophy.

In genetics, a strain is said to be auxotrophic if it carries a mutation that renders it unable to synthesise an essential compound. For example a yeast mutant in which a gene of the uracil synthesis pathway is inactivated is a uracil auxotroph. Such a strain is unable to synthesise uracil and will only be able to grow if uracil can be taken up from the environment. This is the opposite of a uracil prototroph, or in this case a wild-type strain, which can still grow in the absence of uracil. Auxotrophic genetic markers are often used in molecular genetics.

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