Heterokaryon

A heterokaryon is a cell with different, non-fused cell nuclei that are located in a common cell membrane . A dikaryon is a pair of different cell nuclei in a heterokaryon. Both occur, for example, in the dikaryotic phase of mushrooms .

It is important that gene expression takes place in both nuclei. This is mainly used in complementation analysis .

Web links

• Heterokaryon in the lexicon of biology
• Heterokaryon on Medicinenet.com (English)