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Definition of "somatoplasm" [somatoplasm]

  • The entirety of specialized protoplasm, other than germ plasm, constituting the body. (noun)
  • The protoplasm of a somatic cell. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "somatoplasm" in a sentence
  • "According to Weismann the somatoplasm developed and was influenced by the environment, whereas the germplasm was segregated early in development and was not susceptible to environmental influences."
  • "This claim had already been made explicitly by August Weismann at the end of the nineteenth century, who differentiated between the germplasm of an organism, the tissue that forms the gametes to produce the next generation, and the somatoplasm, the tissues of the rest of the body."
  • "These were seen as the cells constituting the general bodily structure or somatoplasm, and those cells comprising the reproductive or generative tissues"