Fungal and Bacterial cells (SQA National 5 Biology): Revision Note

Fungi are usually multicellular, but some are single-celled, e.g. yeast

Fungal cells share many features with animal and plant cells, including:

• nucleus

• cell membrane

• cytoplasm

• mitochondria

• ribosomes

Fungal cells also have a cell wall, though fungal cell walls have a different structure to plant cell walls

Their cells do not contain chloroplasts, so they cannot carry out photosynthesis

Bacterial cells vary widely in shape and size

Bacterial cell ultrastructure includes the following:

• a cell wall that differs in structure from plant cell walls

• cell membrane

• cytoplasm

• ribosomes

• a single, circular DNA molecule

• plasmids

Crucially, bacterial cells lack any internal structures that are surrounded by a membrane, so they do not contain, e.g. a nucleus or mitochondria