Embryo

Caenorhabditis elegans

Caenorhabditis

Cell lineage

Cell

Model organism

Developmental biology

Biology

Gene

Embryogenesis

Cell biology

Somatic cell

Computational biology

Cellular differentiation

Cell fate determination

Lineage (genetic)

Transcription factor

Genetics

Science

Identifying terminal nematode cells Single-cell RNA sequencing provides the power to identify the developmental trajectory of an organism. However, identifying the temporal lineage of cell development can be difficult without large-scale analyses. Packer et al. sequenced more than 80,000 cells from embryos of the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans to determine the expression of genes directing the development of terminal cell types. Because all somatic cells in a C. elegans individual have been mapped, the authors are able to connect gene expression with cell lineages over time during development, noting stark transitions in some cases. Science , this issue p. eaax1971

A lineage-resolved molecular atlas of <i>C. elegans</i> embryogenesis at single-cell resolution

A lineage-resolved molecular atlas of C. elegans embryogenesis at single-cell resolution