Cell Differentiation

Skip a few lines between each question.

1) How did your body begin?

2) What do cells need to do to form all the different types of tissues your body needs?

3) What is cell differentiation?

4) Do different kinds of cells have different DNA?

5) Then how do cells function differently?

6) Can cells change once they differentiate?

7) What are stem cells?

Your body began as a single fertilized egg.

If that egg cell simply divided to make lots of identical cells, it would not form a baby. To form all of the different tissues that make up your body, cells need to specialize, or develop specific functions.

For example, some cells become skin cells and others become stomach cells. Cell differentiation* is the process by which cells that are not specialized develop into their specialized forms.

So why do stomach cells function differently than skin cells? They do not have different DNA. Almost all cells in your body have the same full set of DNA.

Different types of cells simply use different genes contained in the DNA. Skin cells use one part of the DNA information—for skin cells—and stomach cells use a different part of the DNA information— for stomach cells.

Once a cell differentiates, it stays in its specialized form. For example, once a cell becomes a stomach cell, it cannot turn into another type of cell. 

Stem cells are a special type of body cell that can develop into different types of cells.