Biology Marking Period 3 Practice Test

Prokaryotes are organized without a membrane-bound nucleus, so their genetic material sits in a nucleoid region inside a single cell. Because of this simple internal organization, they are typically single-celled organisms rather than multicellular. They also lack chloroplasts, which are organelles found in many plant and algal eukaryotic cells that carry out photosynthesis. So the defining feature you can rely on is that prokaryotes are single-celled organisms.