Question

What causes phenotypic differences between two human cell types (for example, a skin cell and a brain cell)?

Answer 1

The phenotypic differences between two human cell types (for example, a skin cell and a brain cell) is mediated by cellular differentiation.

In this process, stem cells in the zygote undergo a transition from one cell type to another with specialized functions. Gene expression pattern of these stem cells favor cellular differentiation and causes phenotypic differences between two human cells.

When it comes to the skin cell, epithelial stem cells (also called progenitor cells) differentiates to produce a skin cell. In contrast to this, brain cells are produced by radial glial cells (also called embryonic neural stem cells) by cellular differentiation.