Wei Ying Hong, Lin Faquan
Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, P.R. China.
Mol Med Rep. 2025 Jul;32(1). doi: 10.3892/mmr.2025.13552. Epub 2025 May 2.
Cells are the fundamental structural and functional units of living organisms and the study of these entities has remained a central focus throughout the history of biological sciences. Traditional cell research techniques, including fluorescent protein tagging and microscopy, have provided preliminary insights into the lineage history and clonal relationships between progenitor and descendant cells. However, these techniques exhibit inherent limitations in tracking the full developmental trajectory of cells and elucidating their heterogeneity, including sensitivity, stability and barcode drift. In developmental biology, nucleic acid barcode technology has introduced an innovative approach to cell lineage tracing. By assigning unique barcodes to individual cells, researchers can accurately identify and trace the origin and differentiation pathways of cells at various developmental stages, thereby illuminating the dynamic processes underlying tissue development and organogenesis. In cancer research, nucleic acid barcoding has played a pivotal role in analyzing the clonal architecture of tumor cells, exploring their heterogeneity and resistance mechanisms and enhancing our understanding of cancer evolution and inter‑clonal interactions. Furthermore, nucleic acid barcodes play a crucial role in stem cell research, enabling the tracking of stem cells from diverse origins and their derived progeny. This has offered novel perspectives on the mechanisms of stem cell self‑renewal and differentiation. The present review presented a comprehensive examination of the principles, applications and challenges associated with nucleic acid barcode technology.
细胞是生物体的基本结构和功能单位，在整个生物科学历史中，对这些实体的研究一直是核心焦点。传统的细胞研究技术，包括荧光蛋白标记和显微镜检查，已经对祖细胞和后代细胞之间的谱系历史和克隆关系提供了初步见解。然而，这些技术在追踪细胞的完整发育轨迹和阐明其异质性方面存在固有局限性，包括敏感性、稳定性和条形码漂移。在发育生物学中，核酸条形码技术为细胞谱系追踪引入了一种创新方法。通过为单个细胞分配独特的条形码，研究人员可以准确识别和追踪细胞在各个发育阶段的起源和分化途径，从而阐明组织发育和器官发生的动态过程。在癌症研究中，核酸条形码在分析肿瘤细胞的克隆结构、探索其异质性和耐药机制以及增强我们对癌症进化和克隆间相互作用的理解方面发挥了关键作用。此外，核酸条形码在干细胞研究中也起着至关重要的作用，能够追踪来自不同来源的干细胞及其衍生后代。这为干细胞自我更新和分化的机制提供了新的视角。本综述全面审视了与核酸条形码技术相关的原理、应用和挑战。
