Cell Sizes

Cell biology by the numbers has a good page on the different cell shapes. Length scales analysis tends to reduce cells to just a single order of magnitude for simplicity, but it is interesting to keep in mind the detail of the overall shapes as well.

Microbes

Taken from What is the range of cell sizes and shapes?

Some of the intersting bacteria are:

• G: E. Coli. The prototypical cell is actually quite small in this cartoon ($1\mu m$)
• T: Nevskia ramosa, which lives on the ocean surface, and is exposed to a lot of UV light.
• V: Streptomyces sp. creates a lot of spores, and lives in northern Ireland. It can tolerate high pH levels (10.5) and high levels of radioactivity.

Eukaryotes

The below cartoon compares e. coli. ($1\mu m$) to different eukaryotic cells.

Taken from What is the range of cell sizes and shapes?

The cells are:

• A: Protist cell
• B: Plant cell
• C: Yeast cell. It is an interesting take-away that the yeast cell is so much bigger than the e. coli. cell
• D: Red blood cell
• E: Fibroblast cell, which forms animal tissues
• F: Nerve cell
• G: Rod from the eye