Cell lineage

General stages of cell lineage (cell lineage of liver development in red)

Cell lineage denotes the developmental history of a tissue or organ from the fertilized egg.[1] This is based on the tracking of an organism's cellular ancestry due to the cell divisions and relocation as time progresses, this starts with the originator cells and finishing with a mature cell that can no longer divide.[2][3]

This type of lineage can be studied by marking a cell (with fluorescent molecules or other traceable markers) and following its progeny after cell division. Some organisms, such as C. elegans, have a predetermined pattern of cell progeny and the adult male will always consist of 1031 cells, this is because cell division in C. elegans is genetically determined and known as eutely.[4][5] This causes the cell lineage and cell fate to be highly correlated. Other organisms, such as humans, have variable lineages and somatic cell numbers.

  1. ^ Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  2. ^ Giurumescu, Claudiu A.; Chisholm, Andrew D. (2011). "Cell Identification and Cell Lineage Analysis". Methods in Cell Biology. 106: 325–341. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-544172-8.00012-8. ISBN 9780125441728. ISSN 0091-679X. PMC 4410678. PMID 22118283.
  3. ^ Cell line generation
  4. ^ Sulston, JE; Horvitz, HR (1977). "Post-embryonic cell lineages of the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans". Developmental Biology. 56 (1): 110–56. doi:10.1016/0012-1606(77)90158-0. PMID 838129.
  5. ^ Kimble, J; Hirsh, D (1979). "The postembryonic cell lineages of the hermaphrodite and male gonads in Caenorhabditis elegans". Developmental Biology. 70 (2): 396–417. doi:10.1016/0012-1606(79)90035-6. PMID 478167.