The process in which a precursor cell type acquires the specialized features of a B cell. A B cell is a lymphocyte of B lineage with the phenotype CD19-positive and capable of B cell mediated immunity. [ GOC:mah http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/go/references/0000022 ]
Synonyms: B-cell differentiation B-lymphocyte differentiation B lymphocyte differentiation
Term information
Note that immunologists typically use the word 'development' to refer to cells of B or T cell lineages undergoing the process that GO describes as 'cell differentiation'.