decreased vegetative cell population growth decreased vegetative cell population growth when co-cultured with wild-type cells 2023-05-12T10:56:00Z adaptive growth A cell population phenotype in which the growth of a population of cells is decreased relative to normal in the vegetative growth phase of the life cycle when the population is co-cultured with wild-type cells. Decreased growth may reflect a reduced growth rate (i.e. slower growth), growth that occurs to a lesser extent than normal, or both. vw253