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Stem Cell Potency

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Stem cell potency ranges from totipotent, forming a whole organism plus supporting tissue, to pluripotent, forming any body cell type, to multipotent, restricted to one tissue lineage.

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A fertilized egg's earliest cells are totipotent; most adult stem cells are only multipotent.

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Pluripotent is not the same as totipotent — a pluripotent cell cannot alone form the placenta an embryo needs.

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