• Question: How do stem cells differentiate?

    Asked by anon-250055 to Sophie on 9 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Sophie Arthur

      Sophie Arthur answered on 9 Mar 2020:

      Great question!
      They differentiate by responding to the signals they receive in from their environment. Think of it like a map from stem cells to bone cell. It’s kind of like trying to get from Buckingham Palace to the London Eye in London. You know that when you get to Trafalgar Square you need to go right, and when you reach Westminister Abbey you need to go left, and straight ahead at Big Ben.

      In stem cells, they know that when they have see a certain molecule they need to start going down a particular path and start turning on genes that will make a bone cell, and switch off any stem cell genes. Then when the next molecule appears on their journey, they have to go down another particular path that will lead them to their destination of becoming a bone cell when all the right genes are switched on or off.

      Does that make sense?

Comments

  • Photo: anon-250055

    anon-250055 commented on :

    Yes thank you! How do stem cells switch genes on and off?

    • Photo: Sophie

      Sophie commented on :

      The same way as all cells – they respond to signals from their environment. Those signals then tell the DNA to open up or close down.

      Think of it like a spring, if you stretch the spring, you have more access to more of the spring, so in terms of DNA, key proteins that help switch genes on can reach the genes. On the other hand, when you compress a spring, you cant reach all points of the spring, so it is not as accessible to those key proteins, so the genes stay switched off.

      My research looked at how low oxygen turned key stem cell genes on, and they do that by helping to open up the DNA.