Wildtype

The concept of Wildtype can refer to a gene, phenotype or genotype, and is the  most typical form of a species in nature/ a natural breeding population- i.e it is unmodified and so not a mutant. An Allele that is deemed Wildtype is the one which shows the highest gene frequency and its characteristics are assumed to be non harmful to the organism. The wiltype allele is indicated by a  superscript +. Wiltypes are very useful in reasearh, as specific mutations that are introduced and there effects can be compared to naturally occuring genotypes and phenotypes.