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From Stem Cell to Specialized Cells
Description
Cellular differentiation turns unspecialized cells into specialized cells with specific jobs. This process helps a complex organism, such as a human, develop from a single fertilized egg into a body with many cell types. Nerve cells, muscle cells, and epithelial cells are examples of the final cell types that appear during d...
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Transcript
During cellular differentiation unspecialized cells take on characteristic features, such as shape, size, or membrane protein composition, to perform distinct functions in the body.
A fertilized egg or zygote is highly proliferative and totipotent; that is, it can differentiate to form all cell types.
As the zygote undergoes a seri...
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