Stem cells

In the beginning

  • That very first cell is called a zygote
  • The cells in the zygote divide by mitosis to make a bundle of cells
  • after about a week the zygote is called an embyro

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  • Stem cels intially become a type of tissue e.g nerve tissue
  • tissue cells continue to differentiate - becoming more and more specialised
  • stem cells can replace damaged cells to repair tissue

Information

  • When cells specalise : some genes switch off whilist ithers stay on
  • Genes left on will carry information for specific functions e.g becomes a red blood cell, cardiac muscle cell, a nerve cell
  • All cells start of identical (contains the same gene)
  • Stem cells are unspecialised cells which can divide in order to: Self-renewable (copying) or
    Differentiation (specalise)

Stem cells in animals are unspecialised cells which can divide in order to self-renew or differentiate