∞ generated and posted on 2016.08.29 ∞
Cells making up the same organism having dissimilar functions and appearances despite being genetically identical.
Cellular differentiation is a key advantage to having multiple cells (multicellularity) since it allows organisms to be built of multiple component parts that have different functions.
Cellular differentiation is the equivalent of having societies, whether humans or ants, where rather than different individuals have different jobs instead different parts of bodies have different jobs and so, as a consequence, are collectively able to do more sophisticated things – such as eat, drink, run, jump, and be happy – than would otherwise be the case.
This video follows the formation of intestinal epithelial cells: