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Mesokaryotic Cells

Mesokaryotic cells contain an intermediate type of nucleus, partway between the primitive nucleoid region of the prokaryote and the complex true nuclei of eukaryotes. At one point, the dinokaryon nucleus borne by dinoflagellates was considered to be mesokaryotic in nature, but this has recently been disputed; instead, many scientists consider the dinokaryon nucleus to be a type unto itself.

The hallmark of a mesokaryotic cell is that they have multiple chromosomes, unlike prokaryotic cells; but these chromosomes stay permanently condensed in the nucleus of the cell, unlike eukaryotic cells, when the cell divides. The mesokaryotic nucleus does not divide as a eukaryotic cell's does; instead, it duplicates itself, with one nucleus going with each cell half when the rest of the cell divides. These chromosomes also lack histones, again unlike a eukaryotic cell.

Recently, it has been found that the Peridinium balticum dinoflagellate contains both a mesokaryotic nucleus and a eukaryotic nucleus.

Web Resources On Mesokaryotic Cells

http://jcs.biologists.org/cgi/content/abstract/21/2/273
Mitochondrial system on the ‘mesokaryotic’ level of organization

Book Resources On Mesokaryotic Cells

The Biology of Dinoflagellates by F. J. R. Taylor (Editor)
Dinoflagellates (Cell Biology) by David L. Spector

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