Editing Nucleomorph (section)

{{Short description|Special nuclei in certain plastids}}
{{Plain image with caption|Nucleomorph chloroplast.svg|Diagram of a four membraned chloroplast containing a nucleomorph. Such a layout results from secondary endosymbiosis.|300px|right|bottom|triangle|#13c3a2}}
'''Nucleomorphs''' are small, vestigial eukaryotic [[Cell nucleus|nuclei]] found between the inner and outer pairs of membranes in certain [[plastid]]s. They are thought to be vestiges of red and green algal nuclei that were engulfed by a larger eukaryote. Because the nucleomorph lies between two sets of membranes, nucleomorphs support the [[endosymbiotic theory]] and are evidence that the plastids containing them are [[plastid|complex plastids]]. Having two sets of membranes indicate that the plastid, a prokaryote, was engulfed by a eukaryote, an alga, which was then engulfed by another eukaryote, the host cell, making the plastid an example of secondary endosymbiosis.<ref name=archibald1>{{cite journal | last1 = Archibald | first1 = J.M. | last2 = Lane | first2 = C.E. | year = 2009 | title = Going, Going, Not Quite Gone: Nucleomorphs as a Case Study in Nuclear Genome Reduction | journal = Journal of Heredity | volume = 100 | issue = 5| pages = 582–90 | doi=10.1093/jhered/esp055| pmid = 19617523 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name=reyes>{{cite journal | last1 = Reyes-Prieto | first1 = Adrian | last2 = Weber | first2 = Andreas P.M. | last3 = Bhattacharya | first3 = Debashish | year = 2007 | title = The Origin and Establishment of the Plastid in Algae and Plants | journal = Annual Review of Genetics | volume = 41 | issue = 1| pages = 147–68 | pmid = 17600460 | doi=10.1146/annurev.genet.41.110306.130134| s2cid = 8966320 }}</ref>