Drawing the bacterial cell

Draw an elongated oval (rod shape) or a circle (coccus shape). Add an outer boundary for the cell wall and a slightly inner line for the cell membrane. The interior is cytoplasm, but draw no nucleus. Instead, draw a single tangled loop in the central region for the circular DNA (sometimes called the nucleoid region). Add one or more small circles for plasmids: these are small extra rings of DNA.

If the question mentions movement, add a wavy line extending from one end for the flagellum.

Why bacteria are prokaryotic

Bacteria lack a true nucleus: their DNA is not enclosed in a nuclear membrane. They also lack mitochondria, chloroplasts, endoplasmic reticulum and other membrane-bound organelles found in eukaryotic cells. This is the defining feature of a prokaryote. Ribosomes are present but are smaller than those in eukaryotic cells.

Structures to compare with eukaryotic cells

Both bacterial and plant cells have a cell wall, but the bacterial cell wall is not made of cellulose. Both have a cell membrane and cytoplasm. Bacteria do not have chloroplasts, mitochondria, a large vacuole or a true nucleus. Plasmids are unique to bacteria in the IGCSE context and are important in genetic engineering because they can be used as vectors to transfer genes.