Lineage tracing in gastruloids to understand determinants of early fate decisions

A central goal in developmental biology is to understand how cell fates are specified during development. Advances in stem cell-derived embryoid models, such as gastruloids, have enabled the use of powerful single-cell lineage tracing approaches that are difficult to apply in whole organisms due to the complexities of genetic engineering. Here, we highlight four recent studies that use these techniques to examine fate decisions and spatial organization in gastruloids, uncovering the interplay between cell lineage and signaling in cell fate decisions.