Grave-to-cradle: human embryonic lineage tracing from the postmortem body

Abstract

Curiosity concerning the process of human creation has been around for a long time. Relevant questions seemed to be resolved with the knowledge of how cells divide after fertilization obtained through in vitro fertilization experiments. However, we still do not know how human life is created at the cellular level. Recently, the value of cadavers as a resource from which to obtain “normal” cells and tissues has been established, and human research using postmortem bodies has attracted growing scientific attention. As the human genome can be analyzed at the level of nucleotides through whole-genome sequencing, individual cells in a postmortem body can be traced back to determine what developmental processes have transpired from fertilization. These retrospective lineage tracing studies have answered several unsolved questions on how humans are created. This review covers the methodologies utilized in lineage tracing research in a historical context and the conceptual basis for reconstructing the division history of cells in a retrospective manner using postzygotic somatic variants in postmortem tissue. We further highlight answers that postmortem research could potentially address and discuss issues that wait to be solved in the future.