Lineage Tracing

Adult tissues are dynamic structures whose maintenance depends on the same process of development as embryos. While stem cells persist indefinitely, many cells live only briefly and must be replenished from new cells. The ultimate source of cells for this renewal process are the stem cells, cells which are defined by their ability to produce daughter cells by dividing asymmetrically and possess self-renewal ability. Although stem cells are important for tissue homeostasis, finding them, characterizing their cellular properties, and mapping the daughters they produce is difficult. This is essentially because tissues contain different types of cells that constantly undergo complex movements and renewal that makes it generally difficult to identify stem cells.

Lineage analysis represents the most powerful and reliable method for stem cell identification and ...