Differentiation produces specialized cells when the same genome is used differently through selective gene expression and developmental signalling gradients after fertilization.
Coverage 2010–2025 · Updated 15 Jul 2026
Differentiation is the process in which cells with the same genome activate different sets of genes, make different proteins, and become specialised for particular functions.
A developing embryo can use morphogen concentration gradients as positional information: different concentrations activate different gene-regulatory pathways and produce different cell fates.
Causal chain: same genome → signal or morphogen concentration → selective gene activation → different proteins → specialised cell structure and function. Stem cells self-renew by mitosis and retain the capacity to differentiate along more than one pathway.
Differentiation changes gene expression, not the chromosome set. Self-renewal is the ability to keep dividing; potency is the range of specialised cell types a stem cell can produce.
This objective is assessed through multiple choice, commonly using Identify / Explain.
Identify / Explain
Build the answer around this relationship: Differentiated cells usually retain the same genome as other body cells.
Saying differentiated cells contain different chromosomes or lose unused genes.
Representative question
The micrograph of a section through a plant stem shows at least ten different types of cells.
What explains the differences between these cells?
Only one gene is expressed in each cell type.
Different genes are expressed in each cell type.
Only useful genes remain in the DNA of each cell type.
Changes in the DNA sequence take place when these cells develop.
Cell specialization comes from differential gene expression after a zygote divides, stem cells provide self-renewing cells with different potencies, and cell size is constrained by surface area-to-volume ratio because exchange depends on surface area while demand depends on volume.
