parent cell
Americannoun
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A cell that is the source of other cells, as a cell that divides to produce two or more daughter cells, or a stem cell that is a progenitor of other cells or is the first in a line of developing cells.
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Also called mother cell
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
During mitosis, the parent cell will duplicate its chromosomes in order to pass down the genetic material to the daughter cells.
From Science Daily • May 13, 2024
If the chromatin is already folded into a 3D shape, marks will accumulate in regions that already had modifications inherited from the parent cell.
From Science Daily • Nov. 16, 2023
Sometimes cell division is interrupted midstream, and the replicated DNA gets stuck in the parent cell instead of being divided between daughter cells.
From Science Magazine • Aug. 23, 2023
Over and over, small uncorrected errors are passed from the parent cell to the daughter cells and amplified as each generation produces more non-functional proteins from uncorrected DNA damage.
From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022
It is from the progeny of this parent cell that we take our looks; we still share genes around, and the resemblance of the enzymes of grasses to those of whales is a family resemblance.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
