If an anchor cell in a C. elegans embryo failed to produce EGF, then all of the three initial progenitor cells would go on to form type 1 cells, and lateral inhibition will not occur.

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In C. elegans, the anchor cell normally produces EGF to signal the nearest progenitor cell to become a type 2 cell, initiating a cascade of lateral inhibition that ensures diverse cell fates among the progenitors. Without EGF, the default pathway for the progenitor cells would be to differentiate into type 1 cells, but the statement that "lateral inhibition will not occur" is misleading because lateral inhibition specifically refers to the process by which cells adopt different fates through inhibitory signals; without EGF, this process of differentiation through inhibition wouldn't proceed as it normally does, but the absence of EGF itself alters the signaling environment, not the mechanism of lateral inhibition directly.

If an Anchor Cell in a C