The Evolution of the Cell -- Molecular Biology of the Cell -- NCBI Bookshelf

Table 1-1

Comparison of Procaryotic and Eucaryotic Organisms

	Procaryotes	Eucaryotes
Organisms	bacteria and cyanobacteria	protists, fungi, plants, and animals
Cell size	generally 1 to 10 μm in linear dimension	generally 5 to 100 μm in linear dimension
Metabolism	anaerobic or aerobic	aerobic
Organelles	few or none	nucleus, mitochondria, chloroplasts, endoplasmic reticulum, etc.
DNA	circular DNA in cytoplasm	very long linear DNA molecules containing many noncoding regions; bounded by nuclear envelope
RNA and protein	RNA and protein synthesized in same compartment	RNA synthesized and processed in nucleus; proteins synthesized in cytoplasm
Cytoplasm	no cytoskeleton: cytoplasmic streaming, endocytosis, and exocytosis all absent	cytoskeleton composed of protein filaments; cytoplasmic streaming; endocytosis and exocytosis
Cell division	chromosomes pulled apart by attachments to plasma membrane	chromosomes pulled apart by cytoskeletal spindle apparatus
Cellular organization	mainly unicellular	mainly multicellular, with differentiation of many types

Copyright © 1994 Bruce Alberts, Dennis Bray, Julian Lewis, Martin Raff, Keith Roberts, and James D. Watson. Published by Garland Publishing, a member of the Taylor & Francis Group. No part of the publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means known now or invented hereafter without the permission of the publisher.