Question

Polynucleated cells of the plants are known as?

Answer 1

Hint: These are the types of eukaryotic cells which tend to possess a nucleus which is more than one in number and is shared under a common cytoplasm. The division can occur all at once, i.e., all nuclei tend to divide together and in some cases, the nuclei are independent of the division of each other.

Complete Step by Step Answer:
As you know that mitosis results in cell division and cell division also includes the division of the nucleus too. Organisms of some sort have multinucleated cells in some stages of the life cycle. These multinucleate stages occur when mitosis happens and the cell divides along with the nucleus. In some cases, all the nuclei present in all the multinucleated cells of the organism divide together, and in some other cases, cell division occurs independently, in their own way and on their own time. Multinucleated cells can be formed either by the fusion of two cells which is also termed as syncytia or when cytokinesis does not happen after cell division resulting in multiple nuclei in one cell. These types of cells which are polynucleated cells that can be present in some eukaryotes, in this case, the plants are therefore also known to be Multinucleated cells.

Additional Information:
- There are a lot of dinoflagellates that have more than one nuclei.
- Multinucleated cells that occur through the process of Syncytia, achieve their multiple nuclei as a result of some biological phenomenon or it can also be due to some pathogen entering the body which may cause the plasma membrane to fuse.
- There are some cells also present in the human body like the Osteoclasts which helps in repairing and maintaining the bones of the body. This is done by an acid that is secreted and aims at dissolving the bone matter. There can be a presence of 5 nuclei in the osteoclast cells.
- Coenocytic division is the type of cell division in which the division of the nucleus is not followed by the formation of the cell wall, in the case of plants, in between the separated cells. In other words, the nuclear division is not followed by cytokinesis.

Note:
- There is always a presence of a connection between the neighboring cells of plants through plasmodesmata, but you must not confuse it with the multinucleated stage.
- Multinucleated cells are a phenomenon of eukaryotic cells only, hence look out for prokaryotic cells, if you face any multiple-choice question regarding multinucleated cells, if you see one in the option, you can straight away know that it cannot be the answer.