Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
In cellular biology, a somatic cell (from Ancient Greek σῶμα (sôma) ' body '), or vegetal cell, is any biological cell forming the body of a multicellular organism other than a gamete, germ cell, gametocyte or undifferentiated stem cell. [1] Somatic cells compose the body of an organism and divide through mitosis.
In cellular biology, the term somatic is derived from the French somatique which comes from Ancient Greek σωματικός (sōmatikós, “bodily”), and σῶμα (sôma, “body”.) [1] [2] is often used to refer to the cells of the body, in contrast to the reproductive cells, which usually give rise to the egg or sperm (or other gametes in other organisms).
Adult stem cells are undifferentiated cells, found throughout the body after development, that multiply by cell division to replenish dying cells and regenerate damaged tissues. Also known as somatic stem cells (from Greek σωματικóς, meaning of the body), they can be found in juvenile, adult animals, and humans, unlike embryonic stem ...
Such transport of molecules towards and away from the soma maintains critical cell functions. In case of neurons, the soma receives a large number of inhibitory synapses, [6] which can regulate the activity of these cells. It has also been shown that microglial processes constantly monitor neuronal functions through somatic junctions, and exert ...
For example, in mammals, somatic cells make up the internal organs, skin, bones, blood, and connective tissue. [1] In most animals, separation of germ cells from somatic cells (germline development) occurs during early stages of development. Once this segregation has occurred in the embryo, any mutation outside of the germline cells can not be ...
The cell is quiescent only in G0. Interphase is the phase of the cell cycle in which a typical cell spends most of its life. Interphase is the "daily living" or metabolic phase of the cell, in which the cell obtains nutrients and metabolizes them, grows, replicates its DNA in preparation for mitosis, and conducts other "normal" cell functions. [1]
In addition, stem cell are undifferentiated cells which can develop into a specialized cell and are the earliest type of cell in a cell lineage. [2] Due to the differentiation in function, somatic cells are found only in multicellular organisms, as in unicellular ones the purposes of somatic and germ cells are consolidated in one cell.
Whatever may happen to those cells does not affect the next generation. The Weismann barrier, proposed by August Weismann, is the strict distinction between the "immortal" germ cell lineages producing gametes and "disposable" somatic cells in animals (but not plants), in contrast to Charles Darwin's proposed pangenesis mechanism for inheritance.