Question

Name the smallest living cell that completely lacks a cell wall and can survive without oxygen.

Answer 1

Hint: This term was first used by Albert Bernhard Frank in the year 1889. These can reproduce by a sort of sexual reproduction by adopting a primitive type of DNA transfer from one bacterium to the other.

Correct answer:
-The Mycoplasma is the smallest living cell that completely lacks a cell wall around their cell membrane and can survive without oxygen.
-The absence of a cell wall makes mycoplasma naturally resistant to antibiotics that target cell wall synthesis.
-The mycoplasma is the smallest bacterial cell and can survive without oxygen and is present in various shapes.
-In mycoplasma, the cell wall is absent so the plasma membrane forms the outermost boundary of the cell.
-Mycoplasma can be parasitic or saprophytic. Its several species are pathogenic in humans including Mycoplasma pneumoniae which is an important cause of "walking pneumonia" and other respiratory disorders.
-The genetic material present in mycoplasma is a single DNA duplex. It contains 70s type ribosomes.
-The mycoplasma possesses a replicating disc at one end which assists the application process and also the separation of the genetic materials.
-The mycoplasma possesses a heterotrophic mode of nutrition.
-The majority of mycoplasma are parasites of plants and animals but some live as a saprophyte.
-Due to the inability of mycoplasma bacteria to synthesize the required growth factor they live like a parasite.

Note:
-These organisms can change their shape because of the absence of a cell wall.
-Mycoplasma lacks in the nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles.
-The genetic material present in mycoplasma is a single DNA duplex and it contains 70s type ribosomes also.