What Structures are Found in Prokaryotic Cells?
If you were to look inside a prokaryotic cell, one of the first things that would strike you is that there is no nucleus. And it’s not just an ‘intra-cellular brain’ that it lacks. In fact the prokaryotic structure is without any kind of membrane-bound organelle. The genetic material inside prokaryotic cells is contained in a circular loop known as a plasmid. Prokaryotic cells are much smaller and simpler than eukaryotic cells. And whilst their larger cousins make up organisms such as plants, animals, fungi, protozoans and algae, prokaryotic cells can be split into two groups – bacteria and archaea. Other key prokaryotic structures included in our guide to a prokaryotic cell include; Nucleoid – this is not an organelle, but the name given to the region where DNA is located Ribosomes – they are smaller than eukaryotic ribosomes, but carry out the same function of translating the DNA message into protein Capsule – this encloses the cell and is usually a polysaccharide coat, though someti
