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Building a lineage from single cells: genetic techniques for cell lineage tracking.
Mollie B Woodworth1,2,3, Kelly M Girskis1,2,3, Christopher A Walsh1,2,3
1Division of Genetics and Genomics, Manton Center for Orphan Disease, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Nature Reviews. Genetics
|January 24, 2017
Summary
Understanding cell lineage is crucial for developmental biology and disease research. Recent advances in exogenous labeling and single-cell sequencing offer unprecedented detail for tracking cell relationships.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Biology
- Cell Biology
- Genomics
Background:
- Cell lineage tracing is fundamental to understanding organism development and disease, particularly cancer.
- Traditional methods like retroviral library injection have limitations in scale and detail.
- New techniques are revolutionizing the field, enabling more comprehensive lineage analysis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review current and emerging techniques for cell lineage tracking.
- To highlight advances in exogenous labeling and single-cell sequencing for lineage analysis.
- To discuss methods for both forward and backward lineage tracing.
Main Methods:
- Review of exogenous labeling techniques for cell lineage tracing.
- Discussion of single-cell sequencing applications in lineage analysis.
- Analysis of retroviral library injection as a state-of-the-art method.
Main Results:
- Methodological advances have significantly improved the scale, detail, and applicability of lineage tracking.
- Exogenous labeling and single-cell sequencing enable high-resolution lineage reconstruction.
- New techniques offer broader species applicability and deeper insights into developmental pathways.
Conclusions:
- Cell lineage tracking is rapidly advancing due to technological innovations.
- These advancements are critical for understanding development, disease, and directed differentiation.
- Future research will benefit from these powerful tools for comprehensive biological investigation.
