cmungall / cell-ontology-DO-NOT-USE

Initial attempt to move repo from gcode. USE OBOPHENOTYPE
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stem cell #97

Open GoogleCodeExporter opened 9 years ago

GoogleCodeExporter commented 9 years ago
stem cell is defined as:
"A relatively undifferentiated cell that retains the ability to divide and 
proliferate throughout life to provide progenitor cells that can differentiate 
into specialized cells."

This fits with the broad usage of this term. But a more specialised usage, 
which some people insist is the correct one, defines a stem cell as a precursor 
cell that is capable of dividing (budding off progeny) while retaining its 
identity.

In order to allow for both usages, I propose addition of a new term 'stem cell 
(sensu strictu)' which has the more specialised definition. I think that this 
is useful as there may well be things that stem cells in this strict sense have 
in common.  This term is also amenable to formal definition and therefore use 
in auto-classification, where the broadly defined term is probably not.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by dosu...@gmail.com on 26 Sep 2013 at 2:56