Review of Related Diseases (RRD) 1 Practice Exam

Differentiation shapes what a cell becomes in terms of its structure and its role. By turning specific genes on or off in response to signals, a cell develops a particular phenotype—its shape, its internal components, and its specialized function within a tissue. This is why muscle cells, neurons, and epithelial cells look and work very differently, even though they share the same DNA. The DNA content of a cell stays essentially constant during differentiation, so changes in the amount of DNA aren’t what differentiation determines. Protein production rates can vary with cell type, but the overarching outcome of differentiation is the specialized structure and function, not a uniform change in overall protein synthesis. Susceptibility to viruses can differ among cell types, but that isn’t the primary effect of differentiation. So, the main thing differentiation determines is the structure and function of the cell.