Decoding cell lineage from acquired mutations using arbitrary deep sequencing

Because mutations are inevitable, the genome of each cell in a multicellular organism becomes unique and therefore encodes a record of its ancestry. Here we couple arbitrary single primer PCR with “next generation” DNA sequencing in order to catalog mutations and deconvolve the phylogeny of cultured mouse cells. This study helps pave the way toward construction of retrospective cell fate maps based on mutations accumulating in genomes of somatic cells.