300817 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Natural Transformation, Spirochaete, Archaea
Document Summary
Prokaryotes have a prokaryotic cytoskeleton, albeit more primitive than that of the eukaryotes. Besides homologues of actin and tubulin (mreb and ftsz), the helically arranged building-block of the agellum, agellin, is one of the most signi cant cytoskeletal proteins of bacteria, as it provides structural backgrounds of chemotaxis, the basic cell physiological response of bacteria. At least some prokaryotes also contain intracellular structures that can be seen as primitive organelles. Membranous organelles (or intracellular membranes) are known in some groups of prokaryotes, such as vacuoles or membrane systems devoted to special metabolic properties, such as photosynthesis or chemolithotrophy. In addition, some species also contain carbohydrate-enclosed microcompartments, which have distinct physiological roles (e. g. carboxysomes or gas vacuoles). Prokaryotic cells have various shapes; the four basic shapes of bacteria are: cocci spherical. Bacteria and archaea reproduce through asexual reproduction, usually by binary.
