the larger of the two nuclei in ciliated protozoans
Compare micronucleus
Examples of 'macronuclei' in a sentence
macronuclei
Their extensively fragmented macronuclei contain upwards of 20,000 chromosomes, each with upwards of thousands of copies.
David W. Morgens, Kristen M. Lindbergh, Marie Adachi, Ami Radunskaya, Andre R. O.Cavalcanti 2013, 'A Model for the Evolution of Extremely Fragmented Macronuclei in Ciliates', PLoS ONE10.1371/journal.pone.0064997. Retrieved from PLOS CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
During asymmetric division, nuclear and somatic structures divide with transiently arrested cytokinesis and variable positioning of macronuclei.
Zufall Rebecca A, Long Hongan 2010, 'Diverse modes of reproduction in the marine free-living ciliate Glauconema trihymene',BMC Microbiologyhttp://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2180/10/108. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)