Most biological entities that are more complex than a virus sometimes or always carry additional genetic material besides that which resides in their chromosomes. In some contexts, such as sequencing the genome of a pathogenic microbe, "genome" is meant to include information stored on this auxiliary material, which is carried in plasmids. In such circumstances then, "genome" describes all of the genes and information on non-coding DNA that have the potential to be present.
Try to answer this question if possible (otherwise reply "unanswerable"): What is an example of an organism that has a portion of its genetic material outside of its chromosomes?
pathogenic microbe