In cellular biology, the term somatic is derived from the French somatique which comes from Ancient Greek σωματικός (sōmatikós, “bodily”), and σῶμα (sôma, “body”.
Although under normal circumstances all somatic cells in an organism contain identical DNA, they develop a variety of tissue-specific characteristics.
Somatic mutations are changes to the genetics of a multicellular organism that are not passed on to its offspring through the germline.
Somatic is also defined as relating to the wall of the body cavity, particularly as distinguished from the head, limbs, or viscera.
[4] It was suggested that elevated levels of DNA repair enzymes play a prominent role in the lower mutation frequency of male and female germline cells, and that enhanced genetic integrity is a fundamental characteristic of germline cells.