A group of organisms (especially microorganisms or cells) that form a colony derived entirely from a single parent organism through self-reproduction.
From auto- (self) + colony (from Latin colonia, a settlement). The term developed in microbiology to describe populations arising from clonal reproduction without genetic mixing.
All the bacteria in your single acne pimple might be an autocolony—millions of genetically identical organisms descended from a single bacterium, making them perfect clones of each other in a bacterial family tree with just one root.
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