Question

Are prokaryotic cells aerobic or anaerobic?

Answer 1

A prokaryotic cell is a type of a cell that does not have true nucleus or membrane- bound organelles. Aerobic respiration takes place in the presence of oxygen whereas anaerobic respiration takes place in the absence of oxygen.

Complete answer-
Prokaryotic cells are those cells that are typically unicellular and lack a nuclear membrane - enclosed nucleus. They lack mitochondria or any other eukaryotic membrane - bound organelles except for outer cell membrane. Prokaryotes are divided into two domains: bacteria and Archaea.
All the organisms do cellular respiration to stay alive, but they do not perform the same kind of respiration. There are two types of respiration : aerobic ( in presence of oxygen) and anaerobic ( absence of oxygen). The main difference is that aerobic respiration produces more energy as compared to anaerobic respiration.
Prokaryotic cells are much simpler and unicellular, so anaerobic cellular respiration is often sufficient. This means that they can switch between aerobic respiration and fermentation in relevance to availability of oxygen. Obligate anaerobes live and grow in the absence of molecular oxygen. There are prokaryotes for whom oxygen is referred as a poison and it can thus cause their death. But there are exceptions to this case, there are organisms where aerobic respiration can take place.

So, prokaryotes are majorly anaerobic with few exceptions that are aerobic too.

Note:
The distinction between the prokaryotes as well as the eukaryotes was established by the microbiologists Roger Stanier and C.B. van Niel in the paper The concept of a bacterium in the year 1962. That paper was imprinted in Edouard Chatton's 1937 book Titres et Travaux Scientifiques. One of the reasons for classification was due to blue- green algae which was classified under bacteria but not plants.