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In cellular biology, a somatic cell (from Ancient Greek σῶμα (sôma) 'body'), or vegetal cell, is any biological cell forming the body of a multicellular organism other than a gamete, germ cell, gametocyte or undifferentiated stem cell. [1] Somatic cells compose the body of an organism and divide through mitosis.
In cellular biology, the term somatic is derived from the French somatique which comes from Ancient Greek σωματικός (sōmatikós, “bodily”), and σῶμα (sôma, “body”.) [1] [2] is often used to refer to the cells of the body, in contrast to the reproductive cells, which usually give rise to the egg or sperm (or other gametes in other organisms).
Somatic mutations accumulate within an organism's cells as it ages and with each round of cell division; the role of somatic mutations in the development of cancer is well established, and the accumulation of somatic mutations is implicated in the biology of aging. [4]
Somatic (biology), referring to the cells of the body in contrast to the germ line cells Somatic cell, a non-gametic cell in a multicellular organism; Somatic nervous system, the portion of the vertebrate nervous system which regulates voluntary movements of the body; Somatics, a group of alternative medicine approaches, experiential movement ...
Somatic hypermutation (or SHM) is a cellular mechanism by which the immune system adapts to the new foreign elements that confront it (e.g. microbes).A major component of the process of affinity maturation, SHM diversifies B cell receptors used to recognize foreign elements and allows the immune system to adapt its response to new threats during the lifetime of an organism. [1]
The basic number of chromosomes in the somatic cells of an individual or a species is called the somatic number and is designated 2n. In the germ-line (the sex cells) the chromosome number is n (humans: n = 23). [4] [5] p28 Thus, in humans 2n = 46. So, in normal diploid organisms, autosomal chromosomes are present in two copies.
In addition, stem cell are undifferentiated cells which can develop into a specialized cell and are the earliest type of cell in a cell lineage. [2] Due to the differentiation in function, somatic cells are found only in multicellular organisms, as in unicellular ones the purposes of somatic and germ cells are consolidated in one cell.
Human somatic variations are somatic mutations (mutations that occur in somatic cells) both at early stages of development and in adult cells. These variations can lead either to pathogenic phenotypes or not, even if their function in healthy conditions is not completely clear yet.