BIOL 1103 Chapter Notes - Chapter (lab): Elodea, Archaea, Prokaryote
Document Summary
The cell is the basic unit of life which supports all living organisms. The two main types of cells are eukaryotic and prokaryotic. Eukaryotic cells contain membrane-bound structures, organelles, such as a nucleus, chloroplast and mitochondria that prokaryotic cells lack. There are three domains in which living organisms can be categorized, eukarya, bacteria and archaea. Due to very small size and the absence of organelles it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between bacteria and archaea (reece et al. , 2014). Prokaryotic cells can have a variety of different shapes ranging from shperes (cocci), rods (baccili) to filaments and even more complex shapes such as spirals and clubs. Eukaryotes on the other hand do not have any specific or defined shape and the shape of these cells are more influenced by the presence of the membrane-bound nucleus. Prokaryotic cells are usually smaller in size than their counterparts of eukaryotic cells.
