Cell Identity

[anthomson]

How does a new cell (human or otherwise) know what sort of cell it is supposed to be e.g. a blood cell, a liver cell or whatever and what coordinates the manufacture of all the different cell types required by the body ?

[tracymort]

wouldn't this be a dna thing? like the dna is a little map etc Too late to go looking in my book at the moment but i read a really interesting one (ages ago) called "A Visitor Within" about the science of pregnancy and i am pretty sure this question is covered in there.

[anthomson]

yep - but the DNA is the identical in all cell types, so what activates (or deactivates) the correct genes on the DNA in order to give the cell the its distinct properties.

[DavidUK]

I believe that this is a fundamental question that no-one knows the answer to. I vaguely remember reading something about this years ago in a book called (I think) "Vibrational Medicine". This looked at possible explanations of how such things as homoeopathy work. I think it put forward the idea that there is some kind of electromagnetic field that surrounds the body that signals to the cells what they should grow into. If an answer could be found to your question, it could lead perhaps to methods for controlling cancer or growing back lost limbs or other organs.

[auroberos]

this question cannot yet be answered but is why scientists want to study embryoes (sp?) and look at the stem cells that all other cells come from. However certain cells such as Red blood cells (erythrocytes) grow from stem cells in the bone marrow and have no DNA

[anthomson]

cheers - everybody, guess the more I think about it the more amazing it seems and is not surprising that the mechanisms are not really understood. Not only do cells have to take on a certain identity e.g. a brain cell but collectively they have to form an organ and the organs collectively have to form a body. Some articles I have since read suggest that cell identity is caused by an external influence on the stem cells but they do not seem to know what this might be.

[c_gotheridge]

well infact no one knows it has been suggested that the nobel prize be given to the person who descovers why putting the neucleus of any cell in the body into the cell of an egg (for cloning) works. so i guess that there sycic or somthing