Question

How do stem cells differ, in structure and function, from other cells in your body/

Answer 1

Hi there Brennie :) I'm saso and I'm an ambassador of openstudy :) good to see you took the initiative to ask the question to learn, unfortunately I cannot answer this question but I can give you a brief hint what they want you to write, and try to find someone who can help you answer it correctly :) in the mean time, please go to the chat at the bottom of the page where it says "Biology", click it and say hi, i'm sure someone will respond :)

Answer 2

what I gather from the question is that they basically want you to write the differences between plant cells and animal cells in terms of structure and function. do you have an idea of the structure of both plant cells and animal cells?

Answer 3

The question isn't about plant and animal cells, it's about stem cells as in, human stem cells, not plant stem cells. The word stem means they're the cells that all other cells in the human body stem from. They are found in the beginning stages of development and are able to become specialized into any cell in the human body, which is quite impressive. Unfortunately, the only known way to obtain stem cells is by taking stem cells from early developing embryos, which is why stem cell research is such a hot topic.

Stem cells are unspecialized and can become any other cell in the human body, whereas say, your muscle cells are only muscle cells and can't turn into brain cells or tissue cells. Stem cells don't have all of their DNA repressed by a process called methylation, so they can still express the genes of any part of the body. Every cell in your body contains all the DNA to make any part of you, the difference is that stem cells haven't been repressed yet.

I hope that answers your question!

Answer 4

ah i see, i guess i learned something new, didn't know that :) either i was thought and i forgot or i have no idea :) but all the same, great explanation :)

Answer 5

Stem cell s are un-specialised cell these cell have ability to form specialised cell.

So they act as raw cell which can be coverted to specialise cell. It is very important for healing, blood formation

Answer 6

An important thing to know is that there are more than one type of stem cell: there are adult stem cells that produce replacement cells, like red blood cells, skin cells and other ones that get worn out. Embryonic stem cells have the potential to form all cells of an organism as correctly pointed out above.

Functionally the stem cells have the potential to divide, unlike the differentiated cells they produce. They have a different chromatin structure which perhaps explains the pluripotency (ability to form all other cells). There are stem cell markers expressed on the cell surface - look these up for extra credit if you like

Answer 7

@ebxter01
"They have a different chromatin structure which perhaps explains the pluripotency (ability to form all other cells"

I am seeking reference for above sentence.
Thanks for your support

Answer 8

Let me add one detail - the telomere chromatin structure changes between stem and differentiated cells. I've looked up a reference which might be a good place to start. Best wishes

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22122049