totipotence
/toʊˈtɪpətəns/
noun
- The ability of a cell, especially a fertilized egg, to develop into any type of cell or tissue in the body, and thus into a complete organism.
- Stem cell researchers study totipotence to understand how a single cell becomes a whole organism.
- The fertilized egg has totipotence, meaning it can form every cell type in the body.
- Totipotence is highest in the earliest stages of embryonic development.