Lineage programming: navigating through transient regulatory states via binary decisions.
Lineage-based mechanisms are widely used to generate cell type diversity in both vertebrates and invertebrates. For the past few decades, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has served as a primary model system to study this process because of its fixed and well-characterized cell lineage. Recent studies conducted at the level of single cells and individual cis-regulatory elements suggest a general model by which cellular diversity is generated in this organism. During its developmental history a cell passes through multiple transient regulatory states characterized by the expression of specific sets of transcription factors. The transition from one state to another is driven by a general binary decision mechanism acting at each successive division in a reiterative manner and ending up with the activation of the terminal differentiation program upon terminal division. A similar cell fate specification system seems to play a role in generating cellular diversity in the nervous system of more complex organisms such as Drosophila and vertebrates.
Bertrand
Vincent
V
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA. vb2157@columbia.edu
Hobert
Oliver
O
D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics; D002455:Cell Division; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000235:genetics*; D004330:Drosophila / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology
D014157:Transcription Factors