A somatic cell is generally taken to mean any cell forming the body of an organism.

Somatic cells, by definition, are not germline cells.

In mammals, germline cells are the sperm and ova (also known as "gametes") which fuse during fertilization to produce a cell called a zygote, from which the entire mammalian embryo develops.

Every other cell type in the mammalian body, apart from the sperm and ova, the cells from which they are made (gametocytes) and undifferentiated stem cells, is a somatic cell; internal organs skin, bones, blood and connective tissue are all made up of somatic cells..

For more information about the topic Somatic cell, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:

Embryonic stem cell — Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are stem cells derived from the undifferentiated inner mass cells of a human embryo. Embryonic stem cells are ...  > read more

Allele frequency — Allele frequency is a measure of the relative frequency of an allele on a genetic locus in a population. Usually it is expressed as a proportion or a ...  > read more

Meiosis — In biology, meiosis is the process by which one diploid eukaryotic cell divides to generate four haploid cells often called gametes. Meiosis is ...  > read more

Fertilisation — Fertilisation, also spelt fertilization (also known as conception, fecundation and syngamy), is fusion of gametes to form a new organism of the same ...  > read more

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