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What is the color of endospores after Gram staining? After spore staining?

a) Pink after Gram staining, green after spore staining
b) Purple after Gram staining, pink after spore staining
c) Purple after Gram staining, green after spore staining
d) Pink after Gram staining, red after spore staining

User Cofiem
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1 Answer

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Final answer:

After Gram staining, endospores appear green and vegetative cells appear pink. After spore staining, endospores are still green and vegetative cells remain pink.

Step-by-step explanation:

After Gram staining, endospores appear as light green oval or spherical structures, while vegetative cells appear pink. This is because Gram staining alone cannot visualize endospores, so endospore staining is necessary. The Schaeffer-Fulton method, the most commonly used endospore-staining technique, uses malachite green as the primary stain which turns endospores green, and safranin as the counterstain which turns vegetative cells pink. The result is that endospores are green and vegetative cells are pink after spore staining.

User Tim Fuqua
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