Kinetoplastida (or Kinetoplastea, as a class) is a group of flagellated protists belonging to the phylum Euglenozoa,[3][4] and characterised by the presence of a distinctive organelle called the kinetoplast (hence the name), a granule containing a large mass of DNA.

The group includes a number of parasites responsible for serious diseases in humans and other animals, as well as various forms found in soil and aquatic environments.

Bodo is a typical genus within kinetoplastida, which also includes various common free-living species which feed on bacteria.

[15] Use of Kinetoplastida as an order also creates confusion as there is already an older name Trypanosomatida Kent, 1880, under which the kinetoplastids are most often placed.

Along with these universal structures, kinetoplastids have several distinguishing morphological features such as the kinetoplast, sub-pellicular microtubule array and paraflagellar rod.

[citation needed] The kinetoplast, after which the class is named, is a dense DNA-containing granule within the cell's single mitochondrion, containing many copies of the mitochondrial genome.

The kinetoplast is found at the base of a cell's flagella and is associated to the flagellum basal body by a cytoskeletal structure.