Bacterial cell division. Illustration showing the process of cell division in bacteria (an example of prokaryotes). The sequence runs from top to bottom, with the bacterial cell wall (dark orange) and plasma membrane (yellow) enclosing the cell contents. Inside the cell is a double-stranded loop of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA, blue), attached to the cell membrane at a specific point (grey dot). The DNA is replicated (upper centre) and the membrane starts to expand (red) around the attachment point (lower centre). The final stage is where the membrane and cell wall move inwards to divide the cell into two (bottom). For this artwork with labels, see C023/8848.