1. The condition of an organism that has lost the ability to synthesize a particular organic compound necessary for growth and must obtain it from its environment.
Usage: technical; biology; microbiology

Examples

• The bacterial auxotrophy for leucine meant the strain could not grow on minimal medium without supplementation.
• Scientists induced auxotrophy in the yeast cells to track their movement through the culture.
• Auxotrophy is commonly used in genetic research to select for mutant organisms.
• The auxotrophy for histidine made the mutant strain useful as a marker in genetic experiments.
• Researchers identified the auxotrophy by observing that the organism failed to grow without amino acid supplements.