transdifferentiationn.
/ˌtranzdɪfərɛnʃɪˈeɪʃn/, /ˌtrɑːnzdɪfərɛnʃɪˈeɪʃn/, /ˌtransdɪfərɛnʃɪˈeɪʃn/, /ˌtrɑːnsdɪfərɛnʃɪˈeɪʃn/, U.S. /ˈˌtrænzdɪfəˌrɛn(t)ʃiˈeɪʃ(ə)n/, /ˈˌtræn(t)sdɪfəˌrɛn(t)ʃiˈeɪʃ(ə)n/ Biology.
The change of one type of differentiated or developmentally committed cell into another type; metaplasia.
ΚΠ
1971 F. C. Kafatos in Endocrinologia Experimentalis 5 101 But what we might call transdifferentiation, the transformation of a cell to a different, equally specialised type, has been difficult to establish with certainty.
1974 Tissue & Cell 6 746/1 Labial gland transdifferentiation analogous to that in saturniids also occurs in Manduca.
1993 N.Y. Times 31 Aug. c3/4 The Wilm's tumor gene has a broad role in this crucial transdifferentiation event.
2003 Science 9 May 865 Adult stem cells..can produce tissues of their own type, and possibly others by a process that developmental biologists call ‘transdifferentiation’.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1971