A new theory from scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory suggests that brain cells use their cellular family tree to organize into a complex organ. The model explains how a single starting cell can form a brain with roughly 170 billion precisely positioned neurons.
The research, published in the journal Neuron, challenges the long-standing emphasis on chemical signals alone for guiding cell placement. Instead, it highlights how descendant cells tend to remain near their ancestors, creating large-scale structures similar to how human populations spread over generations.
Stan Kerstjens, a postdoctoral researcher in Anthony Zador's lab, noted that cells must solve questions of location and identity. The team tested the lineage-based model through theoretical calculations, gene expression patterns in mouse brains, and experiments in zebrafish.
Collaborators included researchers from Harvard University and ETH Zürich. The findings indicate that lineage information may work alongside chemical signals, with potential applications to other tissues and self-replicating artificial intelligence systems.
