The mechanisms that regulate the balance between stem cell duplication and differentiation in adult tissues remain in debate. Using a combination of genetic lineage tracing and marker-based assays, the quantitative statistical analysis of clone size and cell composition has provided insights into the patterns of stem cell fate across a variety of tissue types and organisms. These studies have emphasized the role of niche factors and environmental cues in promoting stem cell competence, fate priming, and stochastic renewal programs. At the same time, evidence for injury-induced “cellular reprogramming” has revealed the remarkable flexibility of cell states, allowing progenitors to reacquire self-renewal potential during regeneration. Together, these findings have questioned the nature of stem cell identity and function. Here, focusing on a range of canonical tissue types, we review how quantitative modeling–based approaches have uncovered conserved patterns of stem cell fate and provided new insights into the mechanisms that regulate self-renewal.

中文翻译：

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追踪干细胞命运的动态。

调节成体组织中干细胞复制和分化之间平衡的机制仍存在争议。通过结合遗传谱系追踪和基于标记的检测，对克隆大小和细胞组成进行定量统计分析，为了解各种组织类型和生物体的干细胞命运模式提供了见解。这些研究强调了生态位因素和环境线索在促进干细胞能力、命运启动和随机更新计划中的作用。与此同时，损伤诱导的“细胞重编程”的证据揭示了细胞状态的显着灵活性，使祖细胞在再生过程中重新获得自我更新潜力。总之，这些发现对干细胞身份和功能的本质提出了质疑。在这里，我们重点关注一系列典型的组织类型，回顾基于定量模型的方法如何揭示干细胞命运的保守模式，并为调节自我更新的机制提供新的见解。