拟核（英语：nucleoid；意指「与核相似」，又译类核），也称核区（nuclear region）、核体（nuclear body）或染色质体（chromatin body）。

存在于原核生物，是没有由核膜包被的细胞核，也没有染色体，只有一个位于形状不规则且边界不明显区域的环形DNA分子。内含遗传物质。里面的核酸为双股螺旋形式的环状DNA，且同时具有多个相同的复制品。

实验显示，拟核的主要成分是占60%的DNA和少量RNA以及蛋白质。后两种成分主要是信使RNA和转录因子蛋白质。拟核蛋白质使核酸保持超螺旋结构，尽管在功能上与真核中的组蛋白类似，但实际上并不相同。

The nucleoid (meaning nucleus-like) is an irregularly shaped region within the cell of a prokaryote that contains all or most of the genetic material, called genophore. In contrast to the nucleus of a eukaryotic cell, it is not surrounded by a nuclear membrane. The genome of prokaryotic organisms generally is a circular, double-stranded piece of DNA, of which multiple copies may exist at any time. The length of a genome widely varies, but generally is at least a few million base pairs. As in all cellular organisms, length of the DNA molecules of bacterial and archaeal chromosomes is very large compared to the dimensions of the cell, and the genomic DNA molecules must be compacted to fit.