Dikaryon is from
Greek, di meaning 2 and karyon meaning
nut, referring to the
cell nucleus. It is a nuclear feature which is unique to the
fungi, in which after
plasmogamy the two compatible nuclei of two
cells pair off and cohabit without
karyogamy the cells of the
hyphae,
synchronously dividing so that pairs are maintained in the older cells while newer cells or hyphal tips are also binucleate, i.e. dikaryotic; in the
Ascomycota this attribute of the nuclei to do such is only found in the Ascogenous hyphae but is the dominant phase in the
Basidiomycota. The formation of a dikaryon is a
pleisiomorphic character for the subkingdom
Dikarya, which covers both the
Basidiomycota and
Ascomycota. The formaton of
croziers in the Ascomycota and of
clamp connections in the Basidiomycota, facilitate maintenance of the dikaryons. However, some fungi in each of these
phyla have evolved other methods for maintaining the dikaryons, and therefore neither croziers nor clamp connections are ubiquitous in either phylum.
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A cell that contains two separate haploid nuclei (n+n) which is different from being haploid (n) or diploid (2n). Naturally seen in fungal heterokaryons. Dikaryosis is a significant genetic peculiarity of the fungi.
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