Endospores are an alternative reproductive method to binary fission. X Must include a crystalline protein coat composed of capsomeres forming a helical or isocohedral structure. X May have an outer covering over the capsid made of host cell membrane. May have an outer covering over the envelope called a glycocalyx made of polysacchride. May have attached projecting appendages in the form of flagella, fimbriae, pili or spikes.
Specialized membrane bound vacuoles are essential for a cell to store nutrients in the cytoplasm.
Respiration can not be performed by procaryotes because they lack mitochondria and therefore can not generate a proton motive force. X All microbes must be able to make their own energy and protein, or they must live in a host cell that will perform these functions for the microbe. X All microbes are too small to see with the unaided human eye. The simpler the structure of the microbe, the fewer genes it carries. X Facultative anaerobes use O 2 in respiration, but they can make energy through an anaerobic pathway if they are in an O 2 free environment.