Sulston J E, Schierenberg E, White J G, Thomson J N
Dev Biol. 1983 Nov;100(1):64-119. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(83)90201-4.
The embryonic cell lineage of Caenorhabditis elegans has been traced from zygote to newly hatched larva, with the result that the entire cell lineage of this organism is now known. During embryogenesis 671 cells are generated; in the hermaphrodite 113 of these (in the male 111) undergo programmed death and the remainder either differentiate terminally or become postembryonic blast cells. The embryonic lineage is highly invariant, as are the fates of the cells to which it gives rise. In spite of the fixed relationship between cell ancestry and cell fate, the correlation between them lacks much obvious pattern. Thus, although most neurons arise from the embryonic ectoderm, some are produced by the mesoderm and a few are sisters to muscles; again, lineal boundaries do not necessarily coincide with functional boundaries. Nevertheless, cell ablation experiments (as well as previous cell isolation experiments) demonstrate substantial cell autonomy in at least some sections of embryogenesis. We conclude that the cell lineage itself, complex as it is, plays an important role in determining cell fate. We discuss the origin of the repeat units (partial segments) in the body wall, the generation of the various orders of symmetry, the analysis of the lineage in terms of sublineages, and evolutionary implications.
秀丽隐杆线虫的胚胎细胞谱系已从受精卵追溯到新孵化的幼虫，结果是现在已知该生物体的整个细胞谱系。在胚胎发育过程中产生了671个细胞；在雌雄同体中，其中113个（在雄性中为111个）经历程序性死亡，其余细胞要么终末分化，要么成为胚胎后胚细胞。胚胎谱系高度恒定，其产生的细胞命运也是如此。尽管细胞谱系与细胞命运之间存在固定关系，但它们之间的相关性缺乏明显模式。因此，虽然大多数神经元起源于胚胎外胚层，但有些是由中胚层产生的，少数是肌肉的姐妹细胞；同样，谱系边界不一定与功能边界重合。然而，细胞消融实验（以及先前的细胞分离实验）表明，在胚胎发育的至少某些阶段存在显著的细胞自主性。我们得出结论，细胞谱系本身虽然复杂，但在决定细胞命运中起着重要作用。我们讨论了体壁中重复单元（部分节段）的起源、各种对称顺序的产生、根据亚谱系对谱系的分析以及进化意义。
