Answer to Question #94594 in Cell Biology for Emmanuel

Question

In a tabular form differentiate between the unipotency multipotency toti potency oligo potency and pluripotency?

Answer 1

Unipotency - refers to a cell that can differentiate along only one lineage. Example skin cells are one of the most abundant types of unipotent stem cells. 

Multipotency - refers to cells that have the capacity to self-renew by dividing and to develop into multiple specialised cell types present in a specific tissue or organ. Examples of multipotent stem cells include those in the brain that give rise to different neural cells and glia or haematopoietic cells, which can give rise to different blood cell types, but they can't create brain cells.

Totipotency- Totipotency is the ability of a single cell to divide and produce all of the differentiated cells in an organism. Examples- Spores and zygotes are examples of totipotent cells.

Oligopotency- oligopotency is the ability of progenitor cells to differentiate into a few cell types.. Example Examples of oligopotent stem cells are the lymphoid or myeloid stem cells.

Pluripotency-Pluripotency describes the ability of a cell to develop into the three primary germ cell layers of the early embryo and therefore into all cells of the adult body, but not extra-embryonic tissues such as the placenta. Examples include haemopoietic stem cells.