alleryStart learning →Water floods into a bacterium sitting in dilute fluid. What does its cell wall prevent?
ALoss of the circular chromosome
BBursting due to increasing volume
CEscape of ribosomes from cytoplasm
DShrinking of the plasma membrane
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: B. Bursting due to increasing volume
1. Prokaryotic cytoplasm holds a high concentration of dissolved solutes, so osmotic pressure inside the cell is high.
2. The wall sits outside the cell membrane and resists that pressure.
3. It therefore prevents osmotic lysis, which is bursting caused by increasing volume.
4. Shrinking is the opposite problem, and the wall does not retain chromosomes or ribosomes.
_Source: OpenStax Biology (1st ed., CC BY 4.0), Ch 22 "Prokaryotes: Bacteria and Archaea", section 22.2 Structure of Prokaryotes_
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