Whats the nomenclature for C. elegans cells?
There is a very good article explaining everything about embryonic cell lineage and nomenclature: Sulston JE et al (1983) Dev Biol. “The embryonic cell lineage of the nematode C. elegans.” That article is the “dictionary” everyone refers. P0 is the founder cell for C. elegans. It is the zygote after fertilization. The first few rounds of divisions produce six “founder cells”: E, MS, AB, C, D and P4. Each of these founder cells generate different tissues. From then on, cells are named after these founder cells. For example, the daughters of AB are called ABa (‘a’ means anterior) and ABp (‘p’ means posterior). ABa will generate daughters ABal (‘l’ means left) and ABar (‘r’ means right)… If cell divides dorsal-ventrally, ‘d’ or ‘v’ will be added to the name of daughters. Now you know when you see ABalppp , it comes from: P0->AB->ABa->ABal->ABalp->ABalpp->ABalppp Not only will you see the lineage pathway from the cell name, you will also see in which direction cells have divided and what
