eukaryotic

[ yoo-kar-ee-ot-ik ]

adjective

, Biology.

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of a eukaryote, an organism whose basic structural unit is a cell containing specialized organelles and a membrane-bound nucleus:

   Some scientists believe that the greatest transition of life in the history of Earth is the evolution of eukaryotic cellular life forms from more primitive prokaryotes.

Word History and Origins

Origin of eukaryotic¹

First recorded in 1955–60; eukaryot(e) ( def ) + -ic ( def )

Example Sentences

The genes for these vault components are found in diverse eukaryotic organisms—those that pack their DNA in the nucleus and share other cellular features—with notable exceptions that include insects, plants, and fungi.

From Science Magazine

A 2013 study constructed a family tree of all the organisms known to have vaults and concluded they date back to a hypothetical last common eukaryotic ancestor billions of years ago.

From Science Magazine

Even as researchers continue to ponder why the fork fern has such a vast genome, however, they doubt they’ll find many eukaryotic organisms with genomes that are substantially larger.

From Science Magazine

"Our findings led to the key inference that the way animal cells do mitosis evolved hundreds of millions of years before animals did. The work therefore has direct implications for our general understanding of how eukaryotic cell division mechanisms evolve and diversify in the context of diverse life cycles, and provides a key piece of the animal origins puzzle," said Dey.

From Science Daily

In eukaryotic cell division, genomic information is equally distributed to daughter cells during mitosis, whereas it is halved during a specialized type of cell division called meiosis?which is necessary for germ cell production.

From Science Daily