Bacterial cells do not have nucleus, characteristic of eukaryotic cells. Nuclear material of bacteria lies free in the cell in the form of an irregular, thin, fibrillar and circular single molecule of DNA, called nucleoid or chromatin body. This DNA, sometimes attached at one or more points to a mesosome, frequently runs parallel to the axis of the cell. Bacterial DNA is not associated with histone protein and does not coil to form well-defined chromosomes during the multiplication. In addition to circular DNA, a small amount of subsidiary extrachromosoma I DNA is also present as plasmids or episomes.