Final answer:
In prokaryotic cells, the simultaneous occurrence of transcription and translation is termed the coupling of these two processes, enabling a rapid response to environmental stimuli through efficient synthesis of proteins.
Step-by-step explanation:
Prokaryotic cells lack a membrane-enclosed nucleus, allowing transcription and translation to occur concurrently within the cytoplasm. Polycistronic mRNAs, which can encode more than one protein, are common in prokaryotes allowing the same mRNA molecule to be used for simultaneous synthesis of several proteins by multiple ribosomes, forming polyribosomes. This process is rapid and efficient, enabling prokaryotic cells to quickly respond to environmental changes with new protein synthesis. Unlike prokaryotes, eukaryotic cells undergo transcription and translation in distinct cellular compartments, preventing simultaneous occurrence of these two processes.
Without membrane-enclosed nuclei, prokaryotes can amplify a bacterial protein intracellularly through multiple concurrent events of transcription and translation on the same DNA template. This resulted in the remarkable efficiency of gene expression in prokaryotic organisms. On termination of transcription, the transcript would have partially synthesized numerous copies of the encoded protein using the polyribosomes mechanism.
In eukaryotic cells, polypeptides often require post-translational modifications which cannot take place until after the mRNA is processed, transported out of the nucleus and translated into proteins. This is not the case in prokaryotes as there is no nuclear compartmentalization to separate these processes.