Paper 1

• Adult stem cell

  sources- bone marrow, skin, umbilical cord, liver or brain

  potential- partially specialised, limited ability to differentiate

  what can be produced:

  BM-cells from immune system (red/white blood cells)

  skin- cells found in skin/ hair follicles

  Liver+ brain- Liver+ brain

  UC- red/ white blood cells, muscle, nerve tissue
• Meristem cells (plant)

  source- tips of roots+ shoots

  potential- fully undifferentiated

  what can be produced: one cell can produce an entire plant
• Diabetes Type (II)- stem cell treatment


  problem- inability for pancreas to create insulin

  stem cell use- could be differentiated into insulin producing pancreatic cells> transferring this into the patients body

  source of stem cell- donors/ therapeutic cloning
• Therapeutic cloning


  • In therapeutic cloning, an embryo is produced with the same genes as the patient
  • A 5-day old embryo is the best source of embryonic stem cells
  • Stem cells from embryos created in this way are not rejected by the patient’s body
  • So they may be used for medical treatment without patient having to take drugs to suppress immune system
• stem cells in plants


  • be obtained easily, and without ethical objection, from meristems.
  • can be produced in weeks at a relatively low cost
  • Rare species at risk of extinction can be cloned to protect them+ maintain biodiversity
  • plants produced are clones, so although numbers increase, genetic diversity is low
  • Cloning rare plants gives scientists more time to study them
  • Crop plants with special features such as disease or pest resistance can be cloned to produce large numbers of identical plants for farmers
  • reduces the need to use chemicals such as pesticides