Question

Can someone explain what this means in simple terms:

'Mechanisms of cell fate acquisition '

I looked up acquisition to mean "to acquire" but it still doesn't make sense to me

Answer 1

Mechanism of cell fate acquisition means the ways by which the fate of the cell is acquired. The development in mammals requires the formation of hundreds of cell types, all of which have different patterns of gene expression, yet the same genetic sequence. The fate of the cell means that upon differentiation it will lead to the formation of which cell type. Embryonic stem cells are pleuripotent and undergo differentiation to form the variety of different cell types in humans. There are two mechanisms by which these cells acquire their fate: Autonomous and conditional.