The effect is one-way : germ cells produce somatic cells , and more germ cells ; the germ cells are not affected by anything the somatic cells learn or any ability the body acquires during its life . Genetic information can not pass from soma to germ plasm and on to the next generation . His germ plasm theory states that multicellular organisms consist of germ cells containing heritable information , and somatic cells that carry out ordinary bodily functions .