Genomic material

The Bacterial chromosomes are often found in one area of the cell normally close to the cytoplasmic membrane. The Chromosomes are tightly supercoiled and are associated with chromatin proteins much like those found in eukaryotes but lacking basic histones. In contrast it is thought in which the chromatin of Archaea is very much like that of eukaryotic microorganisms. The tightly packed nuclear material is referred to as the nucleoid in prokaryotes and is complemented through plasmids floating free in the cytoplasm. The size of some plasmids approaches that of chromosomes and the distinction among the two is sometimes esoteric. However, the chromosomal complement of a prokaryotic cell is always haploid and plasmid copy number is often more than one.