Research on bacterial cell morphogenesis in Jeff Errington's lab Morphogenesis and Cell Organization in Bacteria Bacterial cells are highly organized. Recent work in a number of labs has shown that bacterial cells have a remarkably sophisticated sub-cellular organization.
Many proteins have a specific sub-cellular localization pattern.
For example, the machinery for RNA synthesis is localized in the central core of the cell and the translational machinery in the cell periphery. This is highly reminiscent of eukaryotic cellular organization, even though bacteria have no nuclear membrane. Furthermore, synthesis of ribosomal RNA appears to be concentrated into specific zones, at least at higher growth rates, which are equivalent to eukaryotic nucleoli. In the absence of an overt cytoskeleton, bacterial cell shape has traditionally been assumed to be determined predominantly by their rigid extracellular cell wall. However, it is now emerging that the central components of the eukaryotic cytoskeleton probably evolved before the divergence of prokaryotes and eukaryotes.