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What determines whether a cell is a skin cell, blood cell, etc.?

Metabolism and Other Biochemical Reactions Read more from
Chapter Biochemistry

The process that new cells undergo to become a specific type of cell is called cellular differentiation. Interestingly, different types of cells don’t contain different genetic information, but rather they just express different parts of their genetic information. Signal molecules tell the cell which parts of its DNA to express, which in turn controls what types of proteins and other molecules are present in the cell, and ultimately these factors determine its function.

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