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.