22 Main Difference between Bacterial Endospores and Vegetative Cells

What is the difference between bacterial endospores and vegetative cells?

Endospores play a vital role in gram-positive bacterial during unfavorable conditions. The endospores tend to be tough, dormant, and resistant to harsh weather. Both vegetative cells and endospores have close similarities but quite different.

The core difference between bacterial endospores and vegetative cells is that bacterial endospores are refractive while vegetative cells are non-refractive.

Difference between Bacterial Endospores and Vegetative Cells

Bacterial Endospores Definition

Bacterial endospores have thick spores, cortex, spore coat, and exosporium. They are typically common in gram-positive bacteria since they are refractive in nature. The help bacterial to endure harsh weather conditions.

Vegetative Cells Definition

Vegetative cells are typically gram-positive bacterial while a few are gram-negative bacteria. They are also non-refractive in nature. Can always maintain above pH 7.0

Comparison Chart: Bacterial Endospores Vs Vegetative Cells

Basic Terms	Bacterial Endospores	Vegetative Cells
Structures	Thick spores marked by the cortex, spore coat, and core wall	Either gram-positive or gram-negative bacteria
Appearance under microscope	Refractive	Nonrefractive
Amount of calcium	High level	Low level
Dipicolinic acid	Present	Absent
Enzyme activities	Very low	Very high
Respiration rate	Absent	Quite high
Macromolecules	Do not happen	Tend to occur
RNA presence	Absent	Present
Heat resistance capacity	Very high	Very low
Radiation resistance	Very high resistance	Quite low
Chemical resistance	Very high	Very low
Staining properties	Unstainable with common dyes	Stainable with common dyes
Lysosome Enzyme effect	Resistance to lysosome	Very sensitive
Water content level	Very low	Very high
Cytoplasm pH	About 5.5 to 6.0	Above 7.0
Small acid-soluble proteins	Present	Absent
DNA conformation	A form	B form

Core Difference between Vegetative Cells and Bacterial Endospores

Vegetative cells are non-refractive while bacterial endospores are refractive

Vegetative cells have gram-positive or gram-negative bacteria while bacterial endospores are thick-like structures

Bacterial endospores have a high level of calcium while vegetative cells have a low level of calcium

The dipicolinico acid in bacterial endospores are present while in vegetative cells are absent

The bacterial endospores have low enzymatic activities while in vegetative cells are quite high

Vegetative cells have a high respiration rate while bacterial endospores have a low respiration rate

Macromolecules synthesis occur in vegetative cells unlike in bacterial endospores

The mRNA is present in vegetative cells but absent in bacterial endospores

The bacterial endospores have a higher resistance to heat while vegetative cells have lower heat resistance

Vegetative cells have lower resistance to radiation while bacterial endospores have a higher resistance

Bacterial endospores have a higher resistance to chemicals while vegetative cells have a lower resistance

Vegetative cells have staining properties with common bacterial dyes while bacterial endospores are unstainable.

Vegetative cells are highly sensitive to lysosome enzyme while bacterial endospores are resistant to any action by lysosome

Bacterial endospores have a high level of water while vegetative cells have a low water level.

The DNA confirmation of vegetative cells is B-form while that of bacterial endospore is A-form.

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Comparison Video

Summary

The structure of bacterial endospores and vegetative cells tend to be quite different. The main difference between vegetative cells and bacterial endospores is that vegetative cells typically occur in either gram-positive or gram-negative bacteria while bacterial endospores have thick spore marked with spore coat, cortex, and core wall.

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