Mesosomes are areas in the cell membrane of prokaryotic (bacterial) cells that fold inward. They play a role in cellular respiration, the process that breaks down food to release energy.
In Eukaryotes, the majority of this process occurs in mitochondria. The third, and final, step of cellular respiration (electron transport chain) occurs in the space between the two membranes of the mitochondria. This step is critical to the cell as most of the energy from food is released during this stage. Since Prokaryotes do not contain membrane bound organelles, they need a different approach. Instead, they use the mesosomes as a site for the electron transport chain.
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