Question: Why is each cell important in our body and how?

Matthew Tomlinson answered on 21 Nov 2013:

Wow, that’s a really big question, but I will try to be brief. Each cell is important because it has a specific job to do, the job of a bone cell is to turn calcium and phosphorus into bone, a heart cell has to contract to pump blood and a blood cell has to carry oxygen around the body. If some of these cells stop working we see diseases occurring, like liver cirrhosis when liver cells stop working. This is why all cell types are important.

The reason the cells are all different is because they have different genes expressed. Although we have around 30,000 genes, not all genes are expressed by all cells, if they did we’d be in trouble because the cells would not be specialised like they. For example a heart cell doesn’t express a protein needed to make bone, if it did our hearts would turn to bone, which would be a very bad thing!

I hope that answer your question, if you want any extra information let me know!