Animal & Plant Stem Cells
Animal stem cells
- A stem cell is an undifferentiated cell of an organism that is capable of dividing to produce many more cells of the same type (undifferentiated stem cells)
- In addition, depending on which instructions they are given, stem cells can also give rise to other cell types through the process of differentiation
- In animals, there are two broad categories of stem cells
- Embryonic stem cells are found in early embryos - they have the potential to turn into any kind of cell type
- This is how an early embryo can develop into a complex multicellular organism
- Adult stem cells are only found in certain places (like bone marrow) and can only differentiate into a few different cell types
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They are predominantly used to maintain and repair damaged cells such in the blood or skin
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- Embryonic stem cells are found in early embryos - they have the potential to turn into any kind of cell type
Animal Stem Cells Table
Plant stem cells
- Plant stem cells occur in meristem tissue which is found in areas that are growing such as roots and shoot tips
- Meristem tissue produces unspecialised cells that can differentiate into any cell type needed by the plant
- e.g. meristem cells in the roots can differentiate into root hair cells
- Plant stem cells retain the ability to differentiate into any type of plant cell throughout the life of the plant
- It is possible to use plant stem cells to clone plants with desired characteristics
- e.g. resistance to certain diseases
