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Cell types as species: Exploring a metaphor
The concept of “cell type,” though fundamental to cell biology, is controversial. Cells have historically been classified into types based on morphology, physiology, or location. More recently, single cell transcriptomic studies have revealed fine-scale differences among cells with similar gross phe...
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9444152/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36072310 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.868565 |
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author | Doyle, Jeff J. |
author_facet | Doyle, Jeff J. |
author_sort | Doyle, Jeff J. |
collection | PubMed |
description | The concept of “cell type,” though fundamental to cell biology, is controversial. Cells have historically been classified into types based on morphology, physiology, or location. More recently, single cell transcriptomic studies have revealed fine-scale differences among cells with similar gross phenotypes. Transcriptomic snapshots of cells at various stages of differentiation, and of cells under different physiological conditions, have shown that in many cases variation is more continuous than discrete, raising questions about the relationship between cell type and cell state. Some researchers have rejected the notion of fixed types altogether. Throughout the history of discussions on cell type, cell biologists have compared the problem of defining cell type with the interminable and often contentious debate over the definition of arguably the most important concept in systematics and evolutionary biology, “species.” In the last decades, systematics, like cell biology, has been transformed by the increasing availability of molecular data, and the fine-grained resolution of genetic relationships have generated new ideas about how that variation should be classified. There are numerous parallels between the two fields that make exploration of the “cell types as species” metaphor timely. These parallels begin with philosophy, with discussion of both cell types and species as being either individuals, groups, or something in between (e.g., homeostatic property clusters). In each field there are various different types of lineages that form trees or networks that can (and in some cases do) provide criteria for grouping. Developing and refining models for evolutionary divergence of species and for cell type differentiation are parallel goals of the two fields. The goal of this essay is to highlight such parallels with the hope of inspiring biologists in both fields to look for new solutions to similar problems outside of their own field. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9444152 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-94441522022-09-06 Cell types as species: Exploring a metaphor Doyle, Jeff J. Front Plant Sci Plant Science The concept of “cell type,” though fundamental to cell biology, is controversial. Cells have historically been classified into types based on morphology, physiology, or location. More recently, single cell transcriptomic studies have revealed fine-scale differences among cells with similar gross phenotypes. Transcriptomic snapshots of cells at various stages of differentiation, and of cells under different physiological conditions, have shown that in many cases variation is more continuous than discrete, raising questions about the relationship between cell type and cell state. Some researchers have rejected the notion of fixed types altogether. Throughout the history of discussions on cell type, cell biologists have compared the problem of defining cell type with the interminable and often contentious debate over the definition of arguably the most important concept in systematics and evolutionary biology, “species.” In the last decades, systematics, like cell biology, has been transformed by the increasing availability of molecular data, and the fine-grained resolution of genetic relationships have generated new ideas about how that variation should be classified. There are numerous parallels between the two fields that make exploration of the “cell types as species” metaphor timely. These parallels begin with philosophy, with discussion of both cell types and species as being either individuals, groups, or something in between (e.g., homeostatic property clusters). In each field there are various different types of lineages that form trees or networks that can (and in some cases do) provide criteria for grouping. Developing and refining models for evolutionary divergence of species and for cell type differentiation are parallel goals of the two fields. The goal of this essay is to highlight such parallels with the hope of inspiring biologists in both fields to look for new solutions to similar problems outside of their own field. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-08-22 /pmc/articles/PMC9444152/ /pubmed/36072310 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.868565 Text en Copyright © 2022 Doyle. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Plant Science Doyle, Jeff J. Cell types as species: Exploring a metaphor |
title | Cell types as species: Exploring a metaphor |
title_full | Cell types as species: Exploring a metaphor |
title_fullStr | Cell types as species: Exploring a metaphor |
title_full_unstemmed | Cell types as species: Exploring a metaphor |
title_short | Cell types as species: Exploring a metaphor |
title_sort | cell types as species: exploring a metaphor |
topic | Plant Science |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9444152/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36072310 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.868565 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT doylejeffj celltypesasspeciesexploringametaphor |