noun
- Plural of prototrophy; the ability of an organism to synthesize all required nutrients from inorganic compounds without external organic supplements.
Usage: technical; biology; microbiology
Examples
- Bacterial prototrophies allow certain strains to grow on minimal media containing only salts and a carbon source.
- The researcher compared the prototrophies of wild-type and mutant organisms.
- Prototrophies are advantageous in natural environments where nutrient availability is limited.
- Some fungi exhibit prototrophies that enable them to thrive in nutrient-poor substrates.