GoKawiilTwo studies use CRISPR 'cell recorders' to map mouse embryo development
Researchers from two independent teams, publishing in Science and Cell, used CRISPR-based gene editing to introduce and track mutations in dividing mouse embryo cells, reconstructing cell lineage maps. One team traced a two-week-old embryo back to a single fertilized egg, while the other recorded most cell divisions during organ formation. The work echoes John Sulston's 1980s cell-by-cell mapping of the roundworm C. elegans, but extends the approach to mammals, whose development involves billions of cells and external influences rather than a fixed pattern.