Kinetoplast

an intensely staining rod-, disc-, or spherical-shaped extranuclear DNA structure found in parasitic flagellates (family Trypanosomatidae) near the base of the flagellum, posterior to the blepharoplast, and often at right angles to the nucleus

Description
Electron micrographs show it to be part of a single giant mitochondrion filling most of the cytoplasm of amastigote flagellates, the kinetoplast portion being visible by light microscopy. DNA of the kinetoplast is termed kDNA to distinguish it from nuclear DNA, or nDNA. The kinetoplast divides independently, along with the basal body, prior to nuclear division. The term kinetoplast formerly included parabasal body and blepharoplast in a locomotory apparatus, but is now recognized as a distinct organelle of most trypanosomatids Syn parabasal body