真核生物 (eukaryote)意指一個有機體裡其細胞具有細胞核的生物，幾乎所有的生物不是細菌或者古菌便是真核生物，這包括所有的植物、動物、黏菌 (slime molds)、單細胞生物 (protists) 和真菌(fungi)。這個定論必須視病毒是否和原核生物或真核生物細胞一樣是從原生湯(primordial soup)裡產生，或者是病毒本身已喪失細胞天然的本質，並被分解到最基本的功能後的簡化細胞後裔。無論如何，真核生物有可能是從原核生物的共生殖民地（symbiotic colonies）演化而來，所以在自然界裡，原核生物細胞是最先出現（他們的構造更簡單、更原始）, 但從地質記錄看來，真核生物細胞幾乎和原核生物細胞一樣古老, 出現在22億年前。
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相關連結
1. Emmanuelle J. Javaux’s 2007 manuscript about early diversification among Eukaryotes is excellent, but a bit technical for general readers.
2. A section from the Second Edition of Geoffrey M. Cooper's textbook on cells in which he describes the evolution of Eukaryotic cells.
3. A description of the Eukaryotic cells from The Miller Museum.
4. A 1998 article by Jeremy Mohn on the Endosymbiosis theory of how eukaryotic cells evolved out of colonies of prokaryotic cells living together as a single organism is well worth reading.
5. The University of California at Berkeley describes the morphology of eukaryotic cells.
