Structural Features of Typical Prokaryotic Cells
- Animal and plant cells are types of eukaryotic cells, whereas bacteria are a type of prokaryote
- Prokaryotes have a cellular structure distinct from eukaryotes:
- Their genetic material is not packaged within a membrane-bound nucleus and is usually circular (eukaryotic genetic material is packaged as linear chromosomes)
- Prokaryotes lack membrane-bound organelles
- They are many (100s/1000s) of times smaller than eukaryotic cells
- Their ribosomes are structurally smaller (70 S) in comparison to those found in eukaryotic cells (80 S)
Prokaryotic cells are often described as being ‘simpler’ than eukaryotic cells, and they are believed to have emerged as the first living organisms on Earth
