Escherichia coli Is the Most-Studied Prokaryotic Cell

Bacterial cells share certain common structural features, but also show group-specific specializations (Fig. 1–1). E. coli is a usually harmless inhabitant of the human intestinal tract. The E. coli cell is about 2 μm long and a little less than 1 μm in diameter. It has a protective outer membrane and an inner plasma membrane that encloses the cytoplasm and the nucleoid. Between the inner and outer membranes is a thin but strong layer of polymers called peptidoglycans, which gives the cell its shape and rigidity. The plasma membrane and the Ribosomes Bacterial ribosomes are smaller than eukaryotic ribosomes, but serve the same function—protein synthesis from an RNA message.

FIGURE 1–1 Common structural features of bacterial cells. Because of differences in the cell envelope structure, some eubacteria (grampositive bacteria) retain Gram’s stain, and others (gram-negative bacteria) do not. E. coli is gram-negative. Cyanobacteria are also eubacteria but are distinguished by their extensive internal membrane system, in which photosynthetic pigments are localized. Although the cell envelopes of archaebacteria and gram-positive eubacteria look similar under the electron microscope, the structures of the membrane lipids and the polysaccharides of the cell envelope are distinctly different in these organisms.

layers outside it constitute the cell envelope. In the Archaea, rigidity is conferred by a different type of polymer (pseudopeptidoglycan). The plasma membranes of eubacteria consist of a thin bilayer of lipid molecules penetrated by proteins. Archaebacterial membranes have a similar architecture, although their lipids differ strikingly from those of the eubacteria.  The cytoplasm of E. coli contains about 15,000 ribosomes, thousands of copies each of about 1,000 different enzymes, numerous metabolites and cofactors, and a variety of inorganic ions. The nucleoid contains a single, circular molecule of DNA, and the cytoplasm (like that of most bacteria) contains one or smaller, circular segments of DNA called plasmids. In nature, some plasmids confer resistance to toxins and antibiotics in the environment. In the laboratory,  these DNA segments are especially amenable to experimental manipulation and are extremely useful to molecular geneticists. Most bacteria (including E. coli) lead existences as individual cells, but in some bacterial species cells tend to associate in clusters or filaments, and a few (the myxobacteria, for example) demonstrate simple social behavior.