Difference Between Golgi Bodies and Dictyosomes

The key difference between Golgi bodies and dictyosomes is that Golgi bodies are a type of cell organelle composed of stacks of cisternae in eukaryotes while dictyosomes are the individual cisternae which collectively form the Golgi bodies.

Golgi bodies are a kind of cell organelles important for the intracellular transport and secretion of molecules. They appear as membrane-bound sacs within the cytoplasm. It consists of a series of flattened membrane-enclosed disks known as cisternae. Dictyosome is a single cisterna. Thus, dictyosomes are collectively known as Golgi apparatus or the Golgi bodies.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What are Golgi Bodies 
3. What are Dictyosomes
4. Similarities Between Golgi Bodies and Dictyosomes
5. Side by Side Comparison – Golgi Bodies vs Dictyosomes in Tabular Form
6. Summary

What are Golgi Bodies?

Golgi bodies are a type of cell organelle present in eukaryotes, especially in the animal cell. They are present in the cytoplasm. They arrange themselves to form a Golgi apparatus. The Golgi bodies are membrane-bound organelles. Each Golgi body contains tightly packed flattened sacs known as cisternae, also termed as dictyosomes. These cisternae bud off from the endoplasmic reticulum, which is also a cellular organelle of eukaryotic cells.

Furthermore, the stack of cisternae has two compartments as cis compartment and trans compartment. The proteins entering the Golgi bodies undergo packaging in these compartments before being released as secretory vesicles into the cytosol. These compartments also carry out protein modification before they are released. Enzymes aid in this process of modifying the biomolecules.

In addition to protein modification and packaging, Golgi bodies also transport lipids. They also aid in lysosome formation in animal cells. These lysosomes then participate in phagocytosis of cellular components.

What are Dictyosomes?

Dictyosomes are the building blocks of Golgi bodies. They are the individual cisternae which eventually form into a Golgi apparatus in eukaryotes. In forming the Golgi apparatus, individual dictyosome packages on the top of each other. In plant cells, these dictyosomes are less tightly packed to form the Golgi apparatus. However, dictyosomes of animal cells are tightly packed to form the Golgi apparatus.

Dictyosomes are membrane-bound. They carry out the functions of storing, modifying, sorting and packaging of biomolecules into vesicles, especially proteins and lipids. The dictyosomes then transport the modified proteins or lipids to their relevant targets.

What are the Similarities Between Golgi Bodies and Dictyosomes?

• Dictyosomes are the building blocks of Golgi bodies.
• Both Golgi bodies and dictyosomes are present only in eukaryotic cells.
• Moreover, they are present in the cytosol of the eukaryotic cells.
• In addition, they carry out the functions of storage, modification, sorting, and packaging of biomolecules.

What is the Difference Between Golgi Bodies and Dictyosomes?

Dictyosomes, also known as cisternae, are the building blocks of Golgi bodies. Meanwhile, we call a collection of cisternae or dictyosomes as a Golgi body. Golgi body is a cellular organelle of eukaryotic cells. Therefore, this is the key difference between Golgi bodies and dictyosomes.

The following infographic presents the difference between Golgi bodies and dictyosomes.

Summary – Golgi Bodies vs Dictyosomes

Golgi bodies and dictyosomes go hand in hand as they perform the same function in eukaryotic cells. Dictyosomes are the building blocks of Golgi bodies. Dictyosomes form the flattened individual sacs which are then tightly or loosely packed to form Golgi bodies or the Golgi apparatus. Collectively, Golgi bodies and dictyosomes carry out the packaging, modification, and distribution of proteins, lipids and other biomolecules in eukaryotic cells. Thus, this summarizes the difference between Golgi bodies and dictyosomes.

Reference:

1.  “Golgi Apparatus.” A Dictionary of Biology, Encyclopedia.com, 2019, Available here.
2. “Dictyosome.” Chemgapedia, Available here.

Image Courtesy:

1. “0314 Golgi Apparatus” By OpenStax – (CC BY 4.0) Available here.
2. “Dictiosome” By Miguelsierra – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia