Prokaryotes do fine without it but they also have two outter membranes The inner of the two takes on many of the functions of eukaryotic membrane bound organelles such as the golgi Many of the eukaryotic proteins found in the golgi that embed proteins in the membrane are homologous to proteins found in the inner membranes of prokaryotes So in a sense prokaryotes do have a golgi or at least something functionaly similar Erythrocytes like Seraphine said have no golgi nor most other organelles for that matter They are pretty much gutted before being released into the blood But I think even this is pretty rare for eukaryotes Most species red blood cells get to keep their nuclei and various other entrails Mommy always said I was special I guess she was refering to my lack of nuclei But for the most part eukaryotes need their golgis Cells need a steady flow of proteins moving to the membrane which for all of us higher species means we need our precious golgis So I guess Seraphine said it best yes and no What are the major unknowns left I just took an undergraduate module on general biology and am extremely fascinated by this Golgi apparatus But unfortunately very little information is available in the textbook it seems Wikipedia has more info However I think it would be helpful if we knew what exactly are the major areas of the Golgi apparatus that remain unknown Are the transport systems to and fro fully understood How are the vesicles formed Are the metabolic processes all described Is there a list of the proteins which are synthesised modified at the Golgi And btw what does a multi joined membrane bound accumulation mean Is that the way biologists describe such structures Thanks for the words of praise this article is somewhat of a pet of mine That multi joined membrane bound accumulation snuck in one one of my days off by the looks of it I m assuming the editor just meant to say in a round about way that the structure of the Golgi is basically just a bunch of joined membranes I removed that little section as it didn t really contribute anything which wasn t already said There are still many unknown when it comes to the Golgi you ve touched on quite a few though These are all valid questions and a quick perusal of recent scientific literature confirms that people are indeed asking them Use your institutional gateway to access journal articles if you find anything interesting be sure to put it in the article Cheers