Kinetoplast

A Kinetoplast is a mass of circular DNA inside a large mitochondria containing many copies of the mitochondrial genome. Kinetoplasts are only found in organisms of the class kinetoplastea. Kinetoplasts are usually adjacent to the organisms' flagellar basal body leading to the thought that they are tightly bound to the cytoskeleton.

Trypanosomes, a group of flagellated protozoans have a kinetoplast contained inside one large mitochondrion. Trypanosoma brucei, the parasite which causes African trypanosomiasis (African sleeping sickness), is an example of a Trypanosome with a kinetoplast. Its kinetoplast is easily visible in samples stained with DAPI, a fluorescent DNA stain.

Kinetoplast