| TERM | GROUP | DEFINITION | |
|---|---|---|---|
| KARYOMASTIGONT | N | PROTISTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: A karyomastigont is a “unit” that includes basal bodies, flagellar roots, and a nucleus. |
| KEEL | N | PROTISTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: A keel is a wing-like process on the frustules of some diatoms. |
| KINETY (KINETIES) | N | PROTISTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: Kineties (kinety) provide the underlying structure of flagellar roots found in ciliates (and others like the pseudociliata) and allow for coordination of the flagella. |
| KINETOCHORE | N | ANIMALS, PLANTS, PROTISTS, FUNGI | Pronunciation: Etymology: A kinetochore is also called a centromere, the point on a chromosome to which the spindle fibers attach. |
| KINETOPLAST | N | PROTISTS | Pronunciation: Etymology: A kinetoplast is a modified mitochondrion that is associated with the basal body (kinetosome) of kinetoplastids. Their mitochondrion had a very large amount of DNA (called k-DNA) and stains almost as a second nucleus in the cell. |
| KINGDOM | N | SYSTEMATICS | Pronunciation & Etymology: Kingdom is a common English word. Kingdom is the taxonomic level that contains one or more phyla. A natural system aggregates phyla into about 11 or more eukaryotic kingdoms. |
| KIN SELECTION | N | EVOLUTION | Pronunciation & Etymology: The phrase is made of two common English words. Selection is defined elsewhere. Kin selection is a kind of natural selection that acts on an individual’s inclusive fitness (i.e. increased fitness due to success of relatives who share parts of their genome). In theory, this would be most common in highly social organisms like humans, bees, etc. The theory of kin selection is embodied in the following quote by J. B. S. Haldane: “Would I lay down my life to save my brother? No, but I would to save two brothers or eight cousins.” – J.B.S. Haldane (1955) |
