Barcodes show the blood family tree
Studies in mice suggest that some of our white blood cells are only formed during the fetal period, and stay with us for the rest of our lives. The blood stem cells in the embryo are particularly capable of maturing into a proper immune system, and the question as to why they do not continue to do so in adults has been discussed among researchers for a long time. A research group at Lund University is now one step closer to finding the answer. "By assigning a 'barcode' to the stem cells, we were able to track their performance over long periods of time and see which cells in the blood and the immune system they can induce. Without the barcode, we only see a bunch of red and white blood cells, without knowing how they are related. This allows us to track which stem cell has given rise to which subsidiary cells, and thereby distinguish the family tree in the blood," explains Joan Yuan, research group leader. The barcodes enable researchers to see how individual s...