Compare and contrast the components of prokaryotic cells with those of eukaryotic cells.
Cells that are prokaryotic (meaning "having a primitive nucleus") lack a nuclear membrane around their chromosomal material. In addition to lacking a nuclear membrane, prokaryotic cells do not possess most of the other membrane-bound structures found in cell that are eukaryotic (meaning "having a true nucleus"). Prokaryotic cells lack endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, and lysosomes. They also lack mitochondria although the inner surface of the prokaryotic cell membrane carries out a similar ATP-producing function. Prokaryotes do have ribosomes for the synthesis of proteins, but prokaryotic ribosomes are much smaller than eukaryotic ribosomes and have a different structure. Prokaryotic organisms that are photosynthetic do have chlorophyll-containing vesicles, or lamellae, but do not possess chloroplasts which, in plants, contain the lamellae. Some prokaryotic cells have cell walls, like plant cells do, but prokaryotic cell walls are made from murein, an amino-acid-embedded polysaccharide, instead of from cellulose. Finally, prokaryotic cells do not have microtubules. As a result, prokaryotic cells' flagella have a radically different structure from the flagella of eukaryotic cells. Formed by a complicated assembly of rings, rods, a hook, and a filament, a prokaryotic flagellum produces
