Prokaryotic cells

Universal features of cells. Characteristics of prokaryotic cells. Surface area-to-volume ratio.

Introduction
Take a moment and look at yourself. How many organisms do you see? Your first
thought might be that there's just one: yourself. However, if you were to look closer, at
the surface of your skin or inside your digestive tract, you would see that there are
actually many organisms living there. That’s right - you are home to around 100 trillion
bacterial cells!

This means that your body is actually an ecosystem. It also means that you—for some
definition of the word you—actually consist of both of the major types of cells:
prokaryotic and eukaryotic.

All cells fall into one of these two broad categories. Only the single-celled organisms of
the domains Bacteria and Archaea are classified as prokaryotes—pro means before
and kary means nucleus. Animals, plants, fungi, and protists are all eukaryotes—
eu means true—and are made up of eukaryotic cells. Often, though—as in the case of we
humans—there are some prokaryotic friends hanging around.
[Are all prokaryotes single-celled?]

\text N_2N, start subscript, 2, end subscript

Image of cyanobacterial cells forming a filament composed of dissimilar cell types. Most
of the cells are small, but one is round and different in morphology. This larger cell is a
nitrogen-fixing cell.
 Components of prokaryotic cells
There are some key ingredients that a cell needs in order to be a cell, regardless of
whether it is prokaryotic or eukaryotic. All cells share four key components:

1. The plasma membrane is an outer covering that separates the cell’s interior from its
surrounding environment.

2. Cytoplasm consists of the jelly-like cytosol inside the cell, plus the cellular structures
suspended in it. In eukaryotes, cytoplasm specifically means the region outside the
nucleus but inside the plasma membrane.

3. DNA is the genetic material of the cell.

4. Ribosomes are molecular machines that synthesize proteins.

Despite these similarities, prokaryotes and eukaryotes differ in a number of important

ways. A prokaryote is a simple, single-celled organism that lacks a nucleus and
membrane-bound organelles. We’ll talk more about the nucleus and organelles in the
next article on eukaryotic cells, but the main thing to keep in mind for now is that
prokaryotic cells are not divided up on the inside by membrane walls, but consist instead
of a single open space.

The majority of prokaryotic \text{DNA}DNAD, N, A is found in a central region of the

cell called the nucleoid, and it typically consists of a single large loop called a circular
chromosome. The nucleoid and some other frequently seen features of prokaryotes are
shown in the diagram below of a cut-away of a rod-shaped bacterium.

Image of a typical prokaryotic cell, with different portions of the cell labeled.
_Image credit: modified from "Prokaryotic cells: Figure 1" by OpenStax College, Biology, CC BY 3.0_

Bacteria are very diverse in form, so not every type of bacterium will have all of the
features shown in the diagram.

Most bacteria are, however, surrounded by a rigid cell wall made out of peptidoglycan, a
polymer composed of linked carbohydrates and small proteins. The cell wall provides an
extra layer of protection, helps the cell maintain its shape, and prevents dehydration.
Many bacteria also have an outermost layer of carbohydrates called the capsule.
The capsule is sticky and helps the cell attach to surfaces in its environment.

Some bacteria also have specialized structures found on the cell surface, which may help
them move, stick to surfaces, or even exchange genetic material with other bacteria. For
instance, flagella are whip-like structures that act as rotary motors to help bacteria move.

Fimbriae are numerous, hair-like structures that are used for attachment to host cells and
other surfaces. Bacteria may also have rod-like structures known as pili, which come in
different varieties. For instance, some types of pili allow a bacterium to
transfer \text{DNA}DNAD, N, A molecules to other bacteria, while others are involved
in bacterial locomotion—helping the bacterium move.
[Are fimbriae considered pili?]

^1start superscript, 1, end superscript

Archaea may also have most of these cell surface features, but their versions of a
particular feature are typically different from those of bacteria. For instance, although
archaea also have a cell wall, it's not made out of peptidoglycan—although it does
contain carbohydrates and proteins.

Cell size
Typical prokaryotic cells range from 0.1 to 5.0 micrometers (μm) in diameter and are
significantly smaller than eukaryotic cells, which usually have diameters ranging from 10
to 100 μm.

The figure below shows the sizes of prokaryotic, bacterial, and eukaryotic, plant and
animal, cells as well as other molecules and organisms on a logarithmic scale. Each unit
of increase in a logarithmic scale represents a 10-fold increase in the quantity being
measured, so these are big size differences we’re talking about!

Graph showing the relative sizes of items from, in order, atoms to proteins to viruses to
bacteria to animal cells to chicken eggs to humans.
_Image credit: "Prokaryotic cells: FIgure 2" by OpenStax College, Biology, CC BY 3.0_
With a few cool exceptions—check out the single-celled seaweed Caulerpa—cells must
remain fairly small, regardless of whether they’re prokaryotic or eukaryotic. Why should
this be the case? The basic answer is that as cells become larger, it gets harder for them to
exchange enough nutrients and wastes with their environment. To see how this works,
let’s look at a cell’s surface-area-to-volume ratio.

Suppose, for the sake of keeping things simple, that we have a cell that’s shaped like a
cube. Some plant cells are, in fact, cube-shaped. If the length of one of the cube’s sides
is lll, the surface area of the cube will be 6l^26l26, l, start superscript, 2, end superscript,
and the volume of the cube will be l^3l3l, start superscript, 3, end superscript. This means
that as lll gets bigger, the surface area will increase quickly since it changes with the
square of lll. The volume, however, will increase even faster since it changes with the
cube of lll.

Thus, as a cell gets bigger, its surface-area-to-volume ratio drops. For example, the cube-
shaped cell on the left has a volume of 1 mm^33start superscript, 3, end superscript and a
surface area of 6 mm^22start superscript, 2, end superscript with a surface-area-to-volume
ratio of six to one, whereas the cube-shaped cell on the right has a volume of 8
mm^33start superscript, 3, end superscript and a surface area of 24 mm^22start
superscript, 2, end superscriptwith a surface area-to-volume ratio of three to one.

Image of two cubes of different sizes. The cube on the left has 1 mm sides, while the cube
on the right has 2 mm sides.
_Image credit: modified from "Prokaryotic cells: FIgure 3" by OpenStax College, Biology, CC BY 3.0_

Surface-area-to-volume ratio is important because the plasma membrane is the cell’s

interface with the environment. If the cell needs to take up nutrients, it must do so across
the membrane, and if it needs to eliminate wastes, the membrane is again its only route.
Each patch of membrane can exchange only so much of a given substance in a given
period of time – for instance, because it contains a limited number of channels. If the cell
grows too large, its membrane will not have enough exchange capacity (surface area,
square function) to support the rate of exchange required for its increased metabolic
activity (volume, cube function).

The surface-area-to-volume problem is just one of a related set of difficulties posed by

large cell size. As cells get larger, it also takes longer to transport materials inside of
them. These considerations place a general upper limit on cell size, with eukaryotic cells
being able to exceed prokaryotic cells thanks to their structural and metabolic features—
which we’ll explore in the next section.

Some cells also use geometric tricks to get around the surface-area-to-volume problem.
For instance, some cells are long and thin or have many protrusions from their surface,
features that increase surface area relative to volume^22start superscript, 2, end
superscript.

Intro to eukaryotic cells

Overview of eukaryotic cells and how they differ from prokaryotic cells (nucleus, organelles, and linear
chromosomes).
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Introduction
What would it be like to live in a one-room cabin? Well, things would probably be pretty
simple. You would eat, sleep, work, and relax in a single room—which might be a bit
cramped, but would certainly make cleaning the house a snap!

Prokaryotic cells, the simple cells of organisms like bacteria, are sometimes compared to
one-room cabins: they don't have internal membranes, so they’re like a single room with
no walls to carve it up^11start superscript, 1, end superscript. If we extend this analogy to
eukaryotic cells, the more complex cells that make up plants, fungi, and animals, we'll
find that they're a definite step upward in the real estate market.
 Just as a large family home is split into many rooms with different purposes (bedrooms,
bathrooms, kitchen, living room, etc.), so eukaryotic cells contain a variety of different
compartments with specialized functions, neatly separated from one another by layers of
membrane. This organization lets each compartment maintain its own conditions, the
ones it needs to carry out its job.

For instance, compartments called lysosomes, which act as recycling centers for the cell,
must maintain an acidic pH in order to dispose of cellular waste. Similarly, structures
called peroxisomes carry out chemical reactions called oxidation reactions and produce
hydrogen peroxide, both of which would damage the cell if they weren’t safely stored
away in their own “room.”

The ability to maintain different environments inside a single cell allows eukaryotic cells
to carry out complex metabolic reactions that prokaryotes cannot. In fact, it’s a big part of
the reason why eukaryotic cells can grow to be many times larger than prokaryotic ones.

Prokaryotic vs. eukaryotic cells

What are the key features of eukaryotic cells? Unlike prokaryotic cells, eukaryotic
cells have:

1. A membrane-bound nucleus, a central cavity surrounded by membrane that houses the

cell’s genetic material.

2. A number of membrane-bound organelles, compartments with specialized functions that

float in the cytosol. (Organelle means “little organ,” and this name reflects that the
organelles, like the organs of our body, have unique functions as part of a larger system.)

3. Multiple linear chromosomes, as opposed to the single circular chromosome of a

prokaryote.

Eukaryotic cells are much more complicated than those of prokaryotes. They are packed
with a fascinating array of subcellular structures that play important roles in energy
balance, metabolism, and gene expression.
 In the articles and videos that follow, we’ll take a tour through eukaryotic plant and
animal cells, exploring the unique structures they contain and the role that each structure
plays in the life of the cell.

Already know what part of the cell you want to visit? Use the list below to jump to your
region of interest:

 Plasma membrane and cytoplasm

 Nucleus and ribosomes
 Endomembrane system
 Mitochondria, chloroplasts, and peroxisomes
 Cytoskeleton
 Extracellular matrix and cell wall
 Cell junctions
Diagram of a typical animal cell:

Diagram of an animal cell with components lettered.

Image modified from OpenStax Biology.

Diagram of a typical plant cell:

 Diagram of a plant cell with components labeled.
Image modified from OpenStax Biology.

[Attribution and references]