Divison and Differentiation in Human Cells Flashcards
What are Somatic Cells?
They are differentiated and derived from stem cells.
What are Germline Cells?
Produce gametes and gamete mother cells
What do Somatic Cells do?
They divide by mitosis to form more somatic cells.
What do Germline Cells do?
They divide by both mitosis and meiosis.
What do Germline Cells produce when dividing by mitosis?
Diploid Germline Cells (2n)
What do Germline Cells produce when dividing by meiosis?
Haploid Gametes (n)
What are the two types of Somatic Cell?
Epithelial Tissue Cells
Connective Tissue Cells
What do Epithelial Tissue Cells do?
They cover the body’s surface and lines body cavities.
What do Connective Tissue Cells do?
They connect, support, bind, or seperate tissues and organs.
What is Cellular Differentiation?
The process by which a cell expresses certain genes to produce protein characteristics for that type of cell - allowing it to carry out specialised functions.
How does a cell become differentiated?
Certain genes within it are either ‘switched on’ or ‘switched off’
What do genes code for?
Proteins
What are the two types of Stem Cells?
Embryonic stem cells
Tissue stem cells
What are Embryonic stem cells?
Derived from the embryo, and can differentiate into all cell types; they are pluripotent.
What are Tissue stem cells?
Involved in the growth, repair, and renewal of the cells they are found in. Can only differentiate into tissues near them; they are multipotent.
What is a therapeutic use of stem cells?
Reparing damaged or diseased organs or tissues. Skin grafts.
What is a research use of stem cells?
Being used as model cells to study how diseases develop - or used for drug testing.
What is an ethical issue of using embryonic stem cells?
Many argur that embryo’s have human rights and it is wrong to create a human life simply for scientific research.
What is an oposing argrument for the use of embryonic stem cells?
They have the potential to discover cures for diseases, for which there are currently none.
What do cancer cells not respond to?
Regulatory signals.
What do cancer cells result in?
A mass of abnormal cells called a tumor.
If they fail to attach to eachother, what type of tumor is produced?
A secondary tumor (which soreads throughout the body)
