Recording development with single cell dynamic lineage tracing

Every animal grows from a single fertilized egg into an intricate network of cell types and organ systems. This developmental process is captured in a lineage tree showing every cell’s ancestry back to the founding zygote.

Biologists have developed various technologies for mapping cell progeny, yet complex organisms contain billions to trillions of cells, limiting what conventional approaches can document in single experiments.

A new generation of tools that use molecular recording methods integrated with single cell profiling technologies may provide a solution. This review summarizes recent developments, experimental challenges, computational obstacles, and biological questions addressable through this methodology.