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Updated: Jun 29, 2025
A Method for Lineage Tracing of Corneal Cells Using Multi-color Fluorescent Reporter Mice
Published on: December 18, 2015
Single-cell lineage tracing approaches to track kidney cell development and maintenance
Baul Yoon1, Hayoung Kim1, Su Woong Jung2
1School of Life Sciences, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Abstract:
The kidney is a complex organ consisting of various cell types. Previous studies have aimed to elucidate the cellular relationships among these cell types in developing and mature kidneys using Cre-loxP-based lineage tracing. However, this methodology falls short of fully capturing the heterogeneous nature of the kidney, making it less than ideal for comprehensively tracing cellular progression during kidney development and maintenance. Recent technological advancements in single-cell genomics have revolutionized lineage tracing methods. Single-cell lineage tracing enables the simultaneous tracing of multiple cell types within complex tissues and their transcriptomic profiles, thereby allowing the reconstruction of their lineage tree with cell state information. Although single-cell lineage tracing has been successfully applied to investigate cellular hierarchies in various organs and tissues, its application in kidney research is currently lacking. This review comprehensively consolidates the single-cell lineage tracing methods, divided into 4 categories (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat [CRISPR]/CRISPR-associated protein 9 [Cas9]-based, transposon-based, Polylox-based, and native barcoding methods), and outlines their technical advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, we propose potential future research topics in kidney research that could benefit from single-cell lineage tracing and suggest suitable technical strategies to apply to these topics.
Insights
Single-cell lineage tracing offers a powerful new way to study kidney development and cell types. This review explores advanced methods, highlighting their potential to overcome limitations of older techniques for kidney research.
Area of Science:
- Renal biology and single-cell genomics.
- Developmental biology and cell lineage tracing.
Background:
- Kidney cellular complexity necessitates advanced lineage tracing.
- Traditional Cre-loxP methods have limitations in capturing kidney heterogeneity.
- Single-cell genomics offers a revolutionary approach to tissue analysis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review single-cell lineage tracing methods applicable to kidney research.
- To compare the advantages and disadvantages of different single-cell lineage tracing techniques.
- To propose future research directions for single-cell lineage tracing in nephrology.
Main Methods:
- Consolidation of four categories of single-cell lineage tracing: CRISPR/Cas9-based, transposon-based, Polylox-based, and native barcoding.
- Analysis of technical strengths and weaknesses for each method.
- Review of existing applications in other organs to inform kidney research.
Main Results:
- Single-cell lineage tracing enables simultaneous multi-cell type tracing with transcriptomic data.
- This approach allows for the reconstruction of lineage trees with cell state information.
- Current application of single-cell lineage tracing in kidney research remains limited.
Conclusions:
- Single-cell lineage tracing methods hold significant promise for advancing kidney research.
- Addressing limitations in current kidney research requires adopting these advanced techniques.
- Future studies can leverage these methods to explore kidney development, maintenance, and disease.
