The basic unit of life is the cell. There are two types of cells namely the eukaryotic and the prokaryotic cells. There are certain similarities between these two types of cells. However, the focus of the discussion will be on the foundational differences between the prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. The first principle difference between the two cells relates to the nucleus. Alberts et al . (2013) asserted that the eukaryotic cell has a nucleus while the prokaryotic cell lacks a nucleus. On the number of chromosomes, the eukaryotic cell has more than one while the prokaryotic has one which is not in itself a true chromosome. The eukaryotic cell has membrane-bound nucleus while the prokaryotic cell does not have.
The examples of organisms that have eukaryotic cells include the plants and animals ( Archibald, 2015). On the other hand, prokaryotic cells are found in bacteria and archaea. In addition, the eukaryotes have lysosomes and peroxisomes which are neither found in the prokaryotic cells. The plant cells and fungi are the only eukaryotes with a cell wall. Also, the cell wall in eukaryotic cells is chemically simpler. On the other hand, the prokaryotic cells have got a cell wall, and the chemical composition of the cell is complex as asserted by Murat et al . (2010). It is also vital to note that the cell size in eukaryotic cells is larger than that of the prokaryotic cells. Eukaryotes have a cell size of 10-100 micrometers while the prokaryotes have a cell size of about 1-10 micrometers. Certain major differences can also be seen in the cell organelles such as the presence of Golgi apparatus in the eukaryotic cells and their absence in prokaryotic cells. The eukaryotic cells have a mitochondrion while the prokaryotes do not have.
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References
Alberts, B., Bray, D., Hopkin, K., Johnson, A., Lewis, J., Raff, M., & Walter, P. (2013). Essential cell biology . Garland Science.
Archibald, J. M. (2015). Endosymbiosis and eukaryotic cell evolution. Current Biology , 25 (19), R911-R921.
Murat, D., Byrne, M., & Komeili, A. (2010). Cell biology of prokaryotic organelles. Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology , 2 (10), a000422.
