Practice question · Sort into groups
Sort each outcome by whether it results from cooperation between cells or from its breakdown.
Groups: Cooperation working · Cooperation breaking down
- Damaged cells undergo programmed death
- A lineage invades tissues it does not belong to
- A cell lineage divides without restraint
- Cells ignore signals telling them to stop growing
- Cells divide only when the tissue requires it
Hints
- Multicellularity requires cells to suppress their own reproduction.
- A lineage that stops cooperating and reproduces for itself is a cancer.
Show the answer
Cooperation working: Cells divide only when the tissue requires it, Damaged cells undergo programmed death
Cooperation breaking down: A cell lineage divides without restraint, Cells ignore signals telling them to stop growing, A lineage invades tissues it does not belong to
Why
A multicellular body is a truce: cells forgo their own reproduction for the whole. Cancer is that truce failing, a lineage reverting to reproducing for itself, which is why it is sometimes described as a return to unicellular behaviour.
Practise From Single Cells to Multicellular Bodies
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