KCS

All cells that constitute the human body are direct descendants, through a lineage of mitotic cell divisions, of the fertilized egg. During normal mitotic cell division, the genome is replicated with very high, but not absolute, precision, which leads to the incorporation of somatic mutations throughout the course of an individual's life. The somatic mutations then will be inherited to all direct descendants of the specific cell. Therefore, these post-zygotic somatic can be used in lineage tracing as markers if the sequencing accuracy is sufficiently high. In my talk, I would like to overview the acquisition of somatic mutations in human cells, pros and cons of many different single-genome technologies and to discuss genome sequencing strategies in my laboratory which may enable the lineage trancing of many adult human cells.