Monitoring of cell-cell communication in multicellular organisms is fundamental to understanding diverse biological processes such as embryogenesis and tumorigenesis. To track cell-cell contacts in vivo, we developed an intercellular genetic technology to monitor cell-cell contact and to trace cell contact histories by permanently marking contacts between cells. In mice, we engineered an artificial Notch ligand into one cell (the sender cell) and an artificial receptor into another cell (the receiver cell). Contact between the sender and receiver cells triggered a synthetic Notch signaling that activated downstream transcriptional programs in the receiver cell, thereby transiently or permanently labeling it. In vivo cell-cell contact was observed during development, tissue homeostasis, and tumor growth. This technology may be useful for studying dynamic in vivo cell-cell contacts and cell fate plasticity.

中文翻译：

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哺乳动物细胞间通讯和接触史的监测

监测多细胞生物中的细胞间通讯对于理解胚胎发生和肿瘤发生等多种生物过程至关重要。为了在体内追踪细胞间的接触，我们开发了一种细胞间遗传技术来监测细胞间的接触，并通过永久标记细胞间的接触来追踪细胞接触历史。在小鼠中，我们在一个细胞（发送细胞）中设计了一个人工 Notch 配体，在另一个细胞（接收细胞）中设计了一个人工受体。发送者和接收者细胞之间的接触触发了一个合成的 Notch 信号，该信号激活了接收者细胞中的下游转录程序，从而暂时或永久地标记它。在发育、组织稳态和肿瘤生长过程中观察到体内细胞间接触。