Mesokaryotes

In 1966, the scientist J. D. Dodge and his co-workers described an unusual group of organisms that did not fit cleanly into either the prokaryote or eukaryote category, and proposed a distinct third group for them: mesokaryotes. As the name suggests (roughly, 'in-between nucleus'), mesokaryotic cells genuinely sit structurally between the two established groups. On the eukaryote-like side, they possess a properly organised nucleus, complete with a real nuclear membrane, and their DNA is arranged into distinct chromosomes rather than a loose nucleoid. On the prokaryote-like side, however, that DNA still lacks the histone proteins that ordinary eukaryotic chromosomes carry, and mesokaryotic cells divide by amitosis (direct division) rather than by the regulated mitosis seen in true eukaryotes - a division process that is closer to how prokaryotes multiply. Certain protozoa, such as Noctiluca, alo …