Difference Between Bacterial cell and Animal Cell

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Paper : Science Differences FAQs | Platform : Vs or Differences FAQs | Category : General FAQs

A cell is the smallest unit of life. It forms a structural and functional unit of all living organisms like animals, bacteria and humans. An adult human body is roughly made up of trillions of cells that are responsible for absorbing nutrients from our body and converting them into energy.

A cell contains various cell organelles that are responsible for carrying out different life functions.

The word cell is originated from a Latin word that means “small room”. As cells can replicate themselves independently, that is why they are called basic building blocks of life.

All organisms are either single cellular (which means made up of single cell) or multicellular (made up of many cells). Cells are of different shapes and sizes.

Based on structure, cells are of two types

  • Prokaryotic -which does not contain a nucleus
  • Eukaryotic- which contains a nucleus

Now let's understand the difference between a bacterial cell and an animal cell

Bacterial Cell-

It is prokaryotic and unicellular which means all functions like feeding, digestion and reproduction happen inside one cell. It does not have a membrane-bound nucleus, and components like mitochondria, lysosomes, ribosomes and other special structures. As it does not have a well-defined nucleus, its nucleus is known as a nucleoid.

Animal cell-

Animal cells on other hand are Eukaryotic and have a well-defined nucleus that is bound by a membrane. They also have cytoplasm which is surrounded by a plasma membrane and other cell organelles which performs various functions necessary for the functioning of the cell.

So the key difference between Bacterial cell and Animal Cell can be summarized below as-

BACTERIAL CELL

                            ANIMAL CELL

Does not contain a well-defined nucleus.

Contains a well-defined membrane-bound nucleus.

Cell organelles are not found.

cell organelles found inside the cytoplasm.

The size is very small as compared to animal cells.   

it is larger than a bacterial cell.

The well-defined cell wall is present. 

the cell wall is absent.

They are mostly autotrophs and a few are heterotrophs.

They are heterotrophs.

 

Contains plasmids.

Does not contain plasmids.

 

Contains a single chromosome.

Contains many chromosomes.

 

Cell shape is well defined.

irregular cell shape.