autotrophic

British  

/ ˌɔːtəˈtrɒfɪk, ˈɔːtətrəʊf /

adjective

1. (of organisms such as green plants) capable of manufacturing complex organic nutritive compounds from simple inorganic sources such as carbon dioxide, water, and nitrates, using energy from the sun Compare heterotrophic

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Other Word Forms

• autotroph noun

Example Sentences

"This bacterium is an autotrophic organism, like a plant. It does, however, not need light like a plant, as it draws its energy from phosphite oxidation."

From Science Daily • Nov. 10, 2023

Through many millions of years of evolution, these ingested bacteria became more specialized in their functions, with the aerobic bacteria becoming mitochondria and the autotrophic bacteria becoming chloroplasts.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

That means researchers should be able to insert these changes autotrophic E. coli that eat formate, which is readily made by zapping CO2 in water with electricity.

From Science Magazine • Nov. 27, 2019

Synthetic biologists have long tried to engineer plants and autotrophic bacteria to produce valuable chemicals and fuels from water and CO2, because it has the potential to be cheaper than other routes.

From Science Magazine • Nov. 27, 2019

Certain types of these compounds, such as the carbohydrates and proteins, are necessary to all plants and are elaborated by all species of autotrophic plants.

From The Chemistry of Plant Life by Thatcher, Roscoe Wilfred