Question

1. Other than the presence or absence of a nucleus, what are some of the key differences between eukaryotic & prokaryotic cells?
   • Size? Reproduction? Lifecycle?
   • Food/energy needs?

2. Diversity within the eukaryotic domain is vast & often easily observable. Describe some of the major differences between the known kingdoms.
   • Protista vs other eukaryotes?
   • Fungal vs Plant cells?
   • Plant vs animal cells?

3. Did any of your group’s experimental data provide unexpected results with the wet mounts?
   • This is a common occur in scientific experimentation & serves simply as a learning opportunity for refining your methodology.
   • What kinds of errors could have yielded your unusual results?

Answer 1

	Prokaryotic cell	Eukaryotic cell
Size	smaller	larger
Nucleus	absent, nucleoid present	present
DNA	circular, single molecule	linear, one to many molecules
Membrane bound organelles	absent	present
Nutrition	auto- and heterotrophic, chemo- and phototrophic	variable
Reproduction	mainly asexual	mainly sexual

No such characteristic difference between protista and other eukaryotes.

	Plant	Fungi
Nucleus	one per cell	1 to many per cell
Cell wall	cellulose	chitin
Roots	roots and root hair present	hyphae and mycelium present
Chlorophyll	present	absent
Nutrition	autotrophic	heterotrophic
Means of reproduction	seeds	spores
Storage	starch	glycogen

	Plant cell	Animal cell
Size	larger	smaller
Cell wall	present, cellulosic	absent
Nutrition	autotrophic	heterotrophic
Centrioles	absent	present
Vacuoles	present	absent
Chloroplast	present	absent
Storage product	starch	glycogen

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