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Differences between cells in different species - (Feb/24/2011 )

Hi guys
I'm no biologist, so I'm sorry if these questions sound stupid.
But I was wondering what are the differences between cells from different species ? For example, I have fibroblasts or osteoblasts from human and from mice. How are they different from each other ?

The same question goes to proteins. If I have fibronectin from human, how is it different from bovine fibronectin ?


Sequence often varies to some extent both at DNA and protein levels. However, they tend to work in the same manner and interact with the same proteins etc.


different species are meant to survive in different conditions and their cells are supposed to respond slightly differently. Sometimes a drug seems to work perfectly in mice but shows a lot of side-effects in humans. I once compared endothelial cells from mice and rat (pretty close species) and although they were same in most respects, they did respond differently to certain stimuli! But, response in cells from one species can be indicative of the kind of response you would get in cells from another.


Thank you for the input. So I guess there are chances that human fibronectin and rabbit anti-fibronectin won't react. Right ?


what do you mean "react"??


Is it an antibody raised in rabbit against human fibronectin or is it an antibody against rabbit fibronectin raised in some other species? If you have the epitope of the antibody you should be able to check on the NCBI or other database as to whether the epitope is present in humans or other species that have been sequenced.