Question

What are the characteristics of prokaryotic cells?

Answer 1

Hint:Prokaryotic cells are the unicellular organisms in which membrane bound cell organelles are absent. They generally consist of single chromosome and double stranded DNA located in an area of the cell.

Complete answer:
>Prokaryotic cells are the unicellular organisms that consist of single chromosome and double stranded >DNA located in a cell area. In prokaryotic cells respiratory enzymes are located on the inner surface of the plasma membrane because of the fact that mitochondria are absent in prokaryotic cells.
>General characteristics of prokaryotic cells:
>Prokaryotic cells range in size from 1-10 microns.
>Nucleus is absent in prokaryotic cells.
>The nuclear material i.e. DNA lies naked which means that it is not bounded by any membrane in the centre of the cell and remains in direct contact with cytoplasm.
>The region of cytoplasm with nuclear material is called a nucleoid.
>The chromosomes of prokaryotic cells are made up of single cellular DNA molecules.
>Small circular DNA molecules called plasmids are present in prokaryotic cells.
>DNA is not associated with a basic protein called histone in prokaryotic cells.
>Membrane bound cell organelles like lysosomes, Golgi apparatus, endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria are absent.
>Ribosomes scattered in cytoplasm. They are smaller than eukaryotic ribosomes.

Note:In prokaryotic, pro means “primitive” and karyon means “nucleus”. These cells are found in bacteria and cyanobacteria i.e. blue-green algae. Based on the complexity of structure and absence or presence of membrane bound cell organelles, cells are classified into prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.