Eukaryotic Cell vs Prokaryotic Cell - Difference | Short Notes

The cell is the basic unit of organization or structures of all living matter. Cell is the smallest portion of an organism which exhibits range of properties of living beings like reproduction, mutation, metabolism and sensitivity. Cell is defined as “a unit of biological activity delimited by a semi permeable membrane and capable of self reproduction in a medium free of other living systems.”

The body of all living organisms (bacteria, blue green algae, plants and animals) except viruses has cellular organization and may contain one or many cells. The organisms with only one cell in their body are called unicellular organism (e.g., bacteria, blue green algae, some algae, protozoa etc). The organisms having many cells in their body are called multicellular organisms (plants and animals).

There are two main classes of cells, namely:

1. Prokaryotic cell
2. Eukaryotic cell

The terms prokaryotic and eukaryotic were suggested by Hans Ris in the 1960’s. The prokaryotes consists of the bacteria and blue green algae and were first to arise in biological evolution (i.e., about 3 x 10 9 years old). The eukaryotic cells are found in all multicellular animals, plants and fungi. Eukaryotes have arisen probably a billion year after the prokaryotes and much larger and complex. They show a wide range of diversity and differentiation.

Difference Between: Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic cell

Features	Prokaryotic cell	Eukaryotic cell
Occurrence	Prokaryotic cells are the characteristics of bacteria and blue green algae (cyanobacteria)	These are cells are  found in all, animals and plants, except blue green algae and bacteria.
Size	Mostly 1-10 μm	Mostly 10-100 μm
Cell wall	Present in most but not in all cells. In Bacteria, cell wall is made up of murein, poly saccharides, lipids and proteins.	The animal cells lack cell wall, but plants cell wall is made up of cellulose and chitinous cell wall is present in fungi.
Nucleus	Absent.	Present
Nuclear Membranes	Absent	Present
Chromatin with histone	Absent	Present
Number of chromosomes	Each cell has only one chromosome.	Number of chromosomes per cell depends upon the type of organism.
Nucleolus	Absent	Present
Plasmids	Present	Rare
Mesosomes	Mesosomes perform the function of golgibodies and mitochondria, and also help in the separation of chromosomes during cell division.	Absent
Respiration	Many strict anaerobes	All aerobic, but some facultative anaerobes by secondary modifications.
Photosynthetic Enzymes	Bound to plasma membrane as composite chromatophores	Enzymes packed in plastids bound by membrane
Sexual System	Rare: If present one way (and usually forming partial diploids or merozygotes); transfer of DNA from donor to recipient cell occurs (conjugation). Gene transfer takes place by transformation and transduction also.	Both sexes involved in sexual participation and entire genomes transferred; alternation of haploid and diploid generations is also evident.
Cyclosis	There are no streaming movements of cytoplasm	Cytoplasm shows streaming movements
Duration of cell cycle	Cell cycle is short, takes 20-60 minutes to complete.	Cell cycle is long, takes 12-24 hours to complete.