Gunther Stent Current Projects
To ascertain the role that the developmental line of descent of an identi¹ed nerve cell plays in determining its differentiated characteristic fate, we devised novel cell lineage tracing methods. Experiments using these methods revealed that the cellular line of descent of the leech nervous system is highly determinate, in that each of five large, bilaterally paired, early embryonic precursor cells gives rise to a characteristic, segmentally iterated set of identifiable nerve cells and other cell types via a stereotyped pattern of cell divisions.