Practice question

Somatic stem cell classification relies strictly on breadth of lineage contribution observed in vivo and transplantation. Inner cell mass is pluripotent, zygote totipotent, spermatogonia unipotent. Hematopoietic stem cells give rise to all blood lineages including myeloid, erythroid, megakaryocytic, and lymphoid branches, yet do not generate neurons or skeletal muscle, exemplifying multipotency defined as generation of multiple distinct cell types within one germ layer family. Therefore hematopoietic stem cells are canonical multipotent adult stem cells extensively studied for transplantation therapies and clonal lineage tracing analysis.