A multinucleate cell (also known as multinucleated cell or polynuclear cell) is a eukaryotic cell that has more than one nucleus, i.e., multiple nuclei share one common cytoplasm. Mitosis in multinucleate cells can occur either in a coordinated, synchronous manner where all nuclei divide simultaneously or asynchronously where individual nuclei divide independently in time and space. Certain organisms may have a multinuclear stage of their life cycle. For example, slime molds have a vegetative, multinucleate life stage called a plasmodium.1
Multinucleate cells, depending on the mechanism by which they are formed, can be divided into23 "syncytia" (formed by cell fusion) or "coenocytes" (formed by nuclear division not followed by cytokinesis).4
Some bacteria, such as Mycoplasma pneumoniae, a pathogen of the , may display multinuclear filaments as a result of a delay between genome replication and . Here, multinuclear filaments refer to multiple within the same cytoplasm, as bacteria are .