A child has been born prematurely and is experiencing severe asthma like symptoms. Exposure to what most likely affected cell differentiation in the growing embryo

Carbon monoxide

Explanation:

Carbon monoxide is a gas that is tasteless, colorless, and odorless, that is formed when wood, charcoal, gasoline is burnt.

When breathed in, carbon monoxide is harmful as it displaces the oxygen that is in the blood and this leads to the deprivation of the brain and other vital parts of the body of the oxygen that's is required for daily functioning.

Exposure to carbon monoxide is most likely affected cell differentiation in the growing embryo. When the pregnant woman inhales smoke, this affects the oxygen in the baby's bloodstream as it's being replaced by carbon monoxide and there's shortage of oxygen.

This affects the cell differentiation in the growing embryo and can lead to the child been born prematurely and can also lead to severe asthma like symptoms.

a. decomposes use carbon from dead organisms as fuel for cellular respiration, returning carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.

cells use diffusion to get substances in and out of themselves. that diffusion will occur across the cell membrane or the outer covering of the cell. because we are talking about the surface of the cell, surface area and volume are  important factors here. as a cell increases in size, its surface area and volume increase as well.  we call that the surface area to volume ratio (sa: vol).  but the catch is that  volume increases at a greater rate than surface  area. in other words, as a cell gets bigger, the sa: vol gets smaller. so a really small cell like bacteria is mostly cell membrane (surface) with very little contents (volume). a really big cell like an egg, is mostly insides with a super thin membrane. so what ends up happening is that the cell cannot efficiently diffuse all of the stuff it needs in/out to survive. therefore cell size is limited to about 100mm. so how do we make organisms bigger than 100mm? cells divide! by dividing and becoming multicellular, organisms are able to grow!   check out the diagrams i attached to see the effect of sa: vol. i hope this ! good luck!