A merodiploid is a partially diploid bacterium, which has its own

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

complement and a chromosome fragment introduced by

conjugation Conjugation or conjugate may refer to: Linguistics * Grammatical conjugation, the modification of a verb from its basic form * Emotive conjugation or Russell's conjugation, the use of loaded language Mathematics * Complex conjugation, the chang ...

, transformation or transduction. It can also be defined as an essentially haploid

organism In biology, an organism () is any living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells (cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and ...

that carries a second copy of a part of its genome. The term is derived from the Greek, meros = part, and was originally used to describe both unstable partial diploidy, such as that which occurs briefly in recipients after mating with an Hfr strain (1), and the stable state, exemplified by F-prime strains (see Hfr'S And F-Primes). Over time the usage has tended to confine the term to descriptions of stable genetic states. Merodiploidy refers to the partial duplication of chromosomes in a haploid organism.

References

External links

* Bacteria Classical genetics {{bacteria-stub