Eukaryotes vs. Prokaryotes

Exercise: PROKARYOTES VS. EUKARYOTES

Outline the features that distinguish prokaryotes from eukaryotes.

PROKARYOTES

EUKARYOTES

TAXONOMIC GROUPS

bacteria, archea

protists, plants, animals

CELL-BIOLOGY

minimal multicellular development

membranous organelles eg. mitochondria, chloroplasts, golgi, ER, peroxisomes, vacoules

tend to be muliticellular

cytoskeleton

GENOME STRUCTURE

10⁶ - 10⁷ bp

circular chromosomes

10⁷ - 10¹²

linear chromosomes

GENE EXPRESSION

coupled transcription and translation

transcription in nucleus, processing, export
translation on ribosomes on ER

introns

CELL CYCLE

binary fission

mitosis

meiosis

Discussion questions:

1. Prokaryotes have coupled transcription and translation. That is, in prokaryotes, an mRNA can begin being translated even before its transcription has been completed. Why isn’t this possible in eukaryotes?

2. Why is there a potential conflict between the process of cell division and the process of gene expression?

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