Animals have evolved a greater diversity of cell types in a multicellular body (100–150 different cell types), compared with 10–20 in plants, fungi, and protoctists.[1]
All higher multicellularorganisms contain cells specialised for different functions. Most distinct cell types arise from a single totipotent cell that differentiates into hundreds of different cell types during the course of development. Differentiation of cells is driven by different environmental cues (such as cell–cell interaction) and intrinsic differences (such as those caused by the uneven distribution of molecules during division). Multicellular organisms are composed of cells that fall into two fundamental types: germ cells and somatic cells. During development, somatic cells will become more specialized and form the three primary germ layers: ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm. After formation of the three germ layers, cells will continue to specialize until they reach a terminally differentiated state that is much more resistant to changes in cell type than its progenitors.
^Margulis, L. & Chapman, M.J. (2009). Kingdoms and Domains: An Illustrated Guide to the Phyla of Life on Earth ([4th ed.]. ed.). Amsterdam: Academic Press/Elsevier. p. 116.
^Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fourth Edition, Bruce Alberts, Alexander Johnson, Julian Lewis, Martin Raff, Keith Roberts, Peter Walter