DNA barcoding and gene expression recording reveal the presence of cancer cells with unique properties during tumor progression.

Tumors comprise diverse cancer cell populations with specific capabilities for adaptation to the tumor microenvironment, resistance to anticancer treatments, and metastatic dissemination. However, whether these populations are pre-existing in cancer cells or stochastically appear during tumor growth remains unclear. Here, we show the heterogeneous behaviors of cancer cells regarding response to anticancer drug treatments, formation of lung metastases, and expression of transcription factors related to cancer stem-like cells using a DNA barcoding and gene expression recording system.

Dynamical pattern selection of growing cellular mosaic in fish retina.

A Markovian lattice model for photoreceptor cells is introduced to describe the growth of mosaic patterns on fish retina. The radial stripe pattern observed in wild-type zebrafish is shown to be selected naturally during retina growth, against the geometrically equivalent circular stripe pattern. The mechanism of such dynamical pattern selection is clarified on the basis of both numerical simulations and theoretical analyses, which find that the successive emergence of local defects plays a critical role in the realization of the wild-type pattern.