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HKDSE Biology - Prokaryotic cell and Eukaryotic cell

Compulsory Part I Cells and Molecules of Life

April 20, 2020

Compare the sub-cellular organisation of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.

Cellular organisation of prokaryotic cell and eukaryotic cell 👇🏻

Prokaryotic cell 🦠

👆🏻 This is a liable diagram of prokaryotic cell.

  • Prokaryotic cell is a unicellular organism which consist of two domain Archaea as well as Bacteria.
  • The uniqueness of prokaryotic cell is that it doesn't consist of membrane bounded nucleusmitochondria and any membrane bounded organelles (endoplasmic reticulum, chloroplast ... etc

Eukaryotic cell 🧫

👆🏻 This is a liable diagram of eukaryotic cell.

  • Eukaryotic cell consist of four domain protozoa, fungi, plants and animal.
  • Eukaryotic cell unlike prokaryotic cell that it has membrane bounded nucleus and membrane bounded organelles (mitochondria ,endoplasmic reticulum, chloroplast ... etc) .

​❗️ ❕This is important under HKDSE Biology examination which commonly occurred in essay type question 👇🏻

Comparison between prokaryotic cell and eukaryotic cell

1. Size

  • Prokaryotic cell with a smaller size (0.5 μm to 5 μm in diameter) while eukaryotic cell with a larger size (10 μm to 100 μm in diameter) 

2. Nucleus

  • Prokaryotic cell do not have true nucleus while eukaryotic cell have true nucleus.

🔸 True nucleus ➡️ membrane bounded nucleus.

3. Genetic material

  • In prokaryotic cell, DNA is circular and lying free in the cytoplasm.
  • In eukaryotic cell, DNA is linear and enclosed by nucleus.

4. Ribosome

  • In prokaryotic cell, ribosome is smaller and lying free in the cytoplasm.
  • In eukaryotic cell, ribosome is larger and ribosome is attached to endoplasmic reticulum.

5. Organelle

  • In prokaryotic cell, few organelle exist and lack of membrane bounded organelles.
  • In eukaryotic cell, many organelle exist and membrane bounded organelles are present.

🔸 Membrane bounded organelles : nucleus, mitochondrion, chloroplast, vacuole, endoplasmic reticulum.

That's the end of this topic 👏🏻

References 

  1. Thomas, B. & Chris, H. (2013) Hong Kong DSE Biology Critical Guide. Yellowreef Limited.