DIVERSITY OF CELLS

Lecture Outline

• Diversity of cells: Prokaryotes and eukaryotes

• Prokaryotes diversity
• Eukaryotes diversity
 How can we
distinguish the
various types of
cells?
Evolution of Life on Earth
 Distinguishing Different Cell Types

• Cell types can be distinguished by their characteristics

1. Cell feeding mechanisms  Acquire nutrients and eliminate waste
products
 Autotrophs
 Produce food from raw materials in the cell

 Photosynthetic  Light or Chemosynthetic  Chemical

 Eg. Plants, algae, some bacteria

 Heterotrophs
 Ability to capture and take in other food stuffs

 Eg. Animals, fungi, some bacteria

 Mixotrophs
 Both a food producer and a predator (Factor  Light availability)

 Eg. Protists (Euglena)

 Distinguishing Different Cell Types

• Cell types can be distinguished by their characteristics

2. Cell complexity and structure

• Generally smaller and • Larger cells and

less active  Anaerobic more complex
respiration • Membrane-bound
• Single loop of DNA organelles for
(nucleoid), not isolated specific cellular
from cytoplasm by functions
membrane • Carry out both
• Cytoplasm, ribosomes, anaerobic and
cell walls, cell aerobic
membranes and respiration (more
associated materials do energy yield per
present glucose utilized)
• Comprise 2 domains of • Found in domain
life  Archaea and Eukarya
bacteria
Distinguishing Different Cell Types

• This family tree depicts the

evolutionary relations among the three
major lineages of organisms

• The structure of the tree was initially

ascertained from morphological
criteria: Creatures that look alike were
put close together

• More recently the sequences of DNA

and proteins have been examined as a
more information-rich criterion for
assigning relationships

• The greater the similarities in these

macromolecular sequences, the more
closely related organisms are thought
to be
 Distinguishing Different Cell Types

• Are autotrophs/heterotrophs =≠ prokaryotes/eukaryotes

a) Autotrophic and prokaryotic (Eg. Some

primitive algae)
b) Heterotrophic and prokaryotic (Eg.
Bacteria)
c) Autotrophic and eukaryotic (Eg. Most
plants)
d) Heterotrophic and eukaryotic (Eg. Most
animals)
 Prokaryotic VS Eukaryotic Cells

Features held in common by the two types of cells

• Plasma membrane of similar construction
• Genetic information encoded in DNA using identical genetic code
• Similar mechanisms for transcription and translation of genetic information,
including similar ribosomes
• Shared metabolic pathways (Eg. Glycolysis, TCA cycle)
• Similar apparatus for conservation of chemical chemical energy as ATP (plasma
membrane in prokaryotes and mitochondrial membrane in eukaryotes)
• Similar mechanisms of photosynthesis (cyanobacteria and green plants)
• Similar mechanism for synthesizing and inserting membrane proteins
• Proteasomes (protein digesting structures) of similar construction
(archaebacterial and eukaryotes)
 Prokaryotic VS Eukaryotic Cells

Features of eukaryotic cells not found in prokaryotic cells

• Presence of nuclear envelope to divide nucleus and cytoplasm
• Complex chromosomes composed of DNA and associated proteins
compacted into mitotic structures
• Complex membranous cytoplasmic organelles (Eg. ER, golgi complex etc)
• Specialized cytoplasmic organelles for aerobic respiration (mitochondria)
and photosynthesis (chloroplast)
• Complex cytoskeletal system (Eg. Microfilaments, microtubules) and
associated motor proteins (Eg. Myosin, kinesin)
 Prokaryotic VS Eukaryotic Cells

Features of eukaryotic cells not found in prokaryotic cells (cont.)

• Complex flagella and cilia
• Ability to phagocytose (ingest particular material via enclosure within
plasma membrane vesicle)
• Cellulose containing cell wall (plants)
• Cell division using microtubule containing mitotic spindle to separate
chromosome
• Presence of 2 copies of genes per cell (one from each parent)
• Sexual reproduction requiring fertilization and meiosis
 What are the
prokaryotic cells
and its diversity?
 Prokaryote

Electron micrograph of a thin section of Escherichia coli, a common intestinal bacterium.

The nucleoid, consisting of the bacterial DNA, is not enclosed within a membrane. E. coli
and some other bacteria are surrounded by two membranes separated by the
periplasmic space. The thin cell wall is adjacent to the inner membrane.
 Prokaryotes Number in the World

Environment No of Prokaryotic cells, x 1028

Aquatic habitats 12
Oceanic surface 355
Soil 26
Terrestrial subsurface 25 – 250
Total 416 – 640
Source: W. B. Whitman et al., Proc. Nat’l Acad. Sci. U.S.As 95:6581, 1998.

• To date, roughly 6000 species of prokaryotes have been identified

 Represent those that has been successfully isolated and cultured

 Less than 1% of the millions of prokaryotic species that might exist on Earth

• Use of molecular techniques (Eg. Sequencing of DNA sequences  A result

of evolution) to study prokaryotic diversity
Prokaryotes Domain
 Archaea Domain

• Three species of organisms

1. Methanogens
 Prokaryotes capable of converting CO2 and H2 gases into methane gas

2. Extremophiles (Prokaryotes that live in extremely inhospitable

environments)
 Halophiles  Live in extremely salty environments (Eg. Dead Sea)

 Acidophiles  Survive at pH as low as 0

 Thermophiles  Live at very high temperatures

3. Hyperthermophiles
 Live in the hydrothermal vents of the ocean floor

 Latest addition  Strain 121 (Able to grow and divide in superheated

water at temperature of 121˚C)
 Bacteria Domain

• Possess phospholipid cell membrane enclosed by cell wall

(rigid sugar) and an additional thick capsule layer (sugar) for
protection from external environment
• Single chromosome that contains relatively small amount of
DNA (600kbp – 8000kbp)
• Smallest prokaryote  Mycoplasma
 0.2μm in diameter
 Lack a cell wall
 Genome fewer than 500 genes

• Most complex prokaryote  Cyanobacteria

 Cyanobacteria

• Contain elaborate photosynthetic cytoplasmic membranes 

Similar to chloroplasts in plant cells
• Photosynthesis achieved by splitting water molecules and
releasing oxygen molecule
• Also capable of nitrogen fixation  Converting nitrogen gas
into nitrogen-reduced compounds (Eg. Ammonia, NH3)  For
synthesis of nitrogen containing compounds (Eg. Amino acids,
nucleotides)
• Usually the first organisms to colonize bare
rocks produced by volcanic eruption 
Capable of both photosynthesis and
nitrogen fixation
Blue-green algae (Cyanobacterium)
 What are the
eukaryotic cells
and its diversity?
Eukaryotes Domain
 Unicellular Eukaryote_Protists
• Most complex
eukaryote
• All machineries
required for
complex activities
confined within a
single cell
 Sensing
 Trapping food
 Expelling excess
fluid
 Evading
predators
 Multicellular Eukaryote

• Evolution into multicellular organisms  Differentiation

process formed specialized cells  Different specialized cells
conduct specific activities
• Different cell types acquire
distinctive appearance and
contain unique cellular
materials
 Skeletal muscle  A network of
precisely aligned filaments with
unique contractile proteins
 Red blood cells  Disc-shaped
sacks with a single protein
(hemoglobin) for gases exchange
 Multicellular Eukaryote

• Most of the cells contain similar

organelles despite the different
cell types
 Eg. Mitochondria (present in
almost all cell types except for red
blood cells)

• Variation  Number,
appearance and location in
each cell types
 Eg. Mitochondria number in
muscle cells with high activity VS
low activity

• Functions of each organelles?

 Eukaryote

Electron micrograph of a plasma cell, a type of white blood cell that secretes antibodies. Only a single
membrane (the plasma membrane) surrounds the cell, but the interior contains many membrane-limited
compartments, or organelles. The defining characteristic of eukaryotic cells is segregation of the cellular
DNA within a defined nucleus, which is bounded by a double membrane. The outer nuclear membrane is
continuous with the rough endoplasmic reticulum, a factory for assembling proteins.

Golgi vesicles process and modify proteins, mitochondria generate energy, lysosomes digest cell materials
to recycle them, peroxisomes process molecules using oxygen, and secretory vesicles carry cell materials to
the surface to release them.