Word.ws English Dictionary

kleptosome

kleptosome noun: an organelle used to steal and encase organelles from cells of foreign organisms, and hijack them to use the stolen organelles as their own.

Noun

kleptosome (plural kleptosomes)

  1. An organelle used to steal and encase organelles from cells of foreign organisms, and hijack them to use the stolen organelles as their own.
    1. A membrane sack organelle found in the cells of the frilly green lettuce sea slug (Elysia crispata) used to contain and operate chloroplasts stolen from algae cells eaten by the slug, allowing the animal to photosynthesize.

Forms of kleptosome

pluralkleptosomes

Origin of kleptosome

klepto- + -some

Questions about kleptosome

What does kleptosome mean?
Kleptosome means an organelle used to steal and encase organelles from cells of foreign organisms, and hijack them to use the stolen organelles as their own.
What part of speech is kleptosome?
Kleptosome is a noun.
What is the plural of kleptosome?
The plural of kleptosome is kleptosomes.

Words near kleptosome in the dictionary

  1. kleptopredator
  2. kleptopredators
  3. kleptos
  4. kleptose
  5. kleptoses
  6. kleptosome
  7. kleptosquamy
  8. kleptotrichy
  9. kleren
  10. klerin
  11. Klerk

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kleptosome (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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