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Different cells have different functions. Explain

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36 Different genes are active in different kinds of cells. Most living things are composed of different kinds of cells specialized to performdifferent functions. A liver cell, for example, does not have the same biochemical duties as a nerve cell. ... This is how cells differentiate.

Cells have different shapes because they do different things. Each cell type has its own role to play in helping our bodies to work properly, and their shapes help them carry out these roles effectively. The following cell types all have unusual shapes that are important for their function.

  • Neurons are cells in the brain and nervous system. Their job is to carry electrical messages all the way from the brain to the rest of the body and back (almost like electrical wire), so they are very long, thin, branched cells. They also need to connect with other neurons to form communication networks, so they have many long branches.
  • photoreceptor cells (rods and cones) are cells in the eye that detect light.
  • Red blood cells are shaped like a doughnut to carry more hemoglobin, and to fit through small spaces, your epithelia of your gut have many small finger-like extensions to increase surface area to absorb the nutrients from digestion.
  • Immune cells are cells that respond when the body is infected (by a bacterium, for instance). To do their job, they need to be able to change shape. For instance, lymphocytes may need to move through body tissue to get to the site of infection, so they change their shape to squeeze past tightly packed tissue cells. Some immune cells (such as neutrophils) engulf bacteria and viruses, so they need to change their shape to ‘swallow’ them.

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