Prokaryotes lack the physically separated and functionally specialised compartments of a eukaryotic cell so transcription and translation occur simultaneously.
Bacteria are essentially haploid and contain a single double-stranded chromosome that is usually circular.
Often genes encoding related functions are clustered and co-transcribed as a single mRNA molecule, this arrangement is termed an operon.
Bacteria replicate semi-conservatively but have no equivalents to mitosis and meiosis. During vegetative growth they double in size and then divide by binary fission to produce two equal daughter cells.
As bacteria undergo clonal growth all cells in a colony are gentically identical.
Genetic exchange occurs by three distinct mechanisms: transformation, transduction and conjugation.
Recipient cells can become merodiploids (partial diploids) or merozygotes (partial zygotes).
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