Abstract:

In descriptions of a given population of organisms, the alleles most commonly present (genotype), or the most commonly expressed set of characteristics (phenotype) is referred to as the wild type. Because the wild type (also often printed in a hyphenated form as "wild-type") represents the most common genotype, alleles that are not a part of that genotype are often considered mutant alleles. Accordingly, the designation of wild type is based upon a quantitative (numerical) representation or estimation of the norm (normal) or standard in a population. (download to read more)