Ewen Callaway in Nature:
Cells change constantly. Researchers tend to study their dynamics in two ways. One method is to watch them live under a microscope, where a limited number of types of molecules can be tracked for days with fluorescent tags. Another way is in test tubes at a single time point, usually the end of an experiment, where mRNA molecules can be measured and compared with those in other cells to reconstruct the past. Over the last decade, researchers have developed a bevy of ‘cell recorders’ — many using CRISPR gene editing — to create an indelible genetic ledger of transient events, such as the activity of a particular molecular pathway over time. This ledger can then be read by genome sequencing to identify the edits at a later point, creating a timeline of cellular events.
More here.
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