Developmental deconvolution of complex organs and tissues at the level of individual cells remains challenging. Non-invasive genetic fate mapping1 has been widely used, but the low number of distinct fluorescent marker proteins limits its resolution. Much higher numbers of cell markers have been generated using viral integration sites2, viral barcodes3, and strategies based on transposons4 and CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing5; however, temporal and tissue-specific induction of barcodes in situ has not been achieved. Here we report the development of an artificial DNA recombination locus (termed Polylox) that enables broadly applicable endogenous barcoding based on the Cre-loxP recombination system6,7. Polylox recombination in situ reaches a practical diversity of several hundred thousand barcodes, allowing tagging of single cells. We have used this experimental system, combined with fate mapping, to assess haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) fates in vivo. Classical models of haematopoietic lineage specification assume a tree with few major branches. More recently, driven in part by the development of more efficient single-cell assays and improved transplantation efficiencies, different models have been proposed, in which unilineage priming may occur in mice and humans at the level of HSCs8–10. We have introduced barcodes into HSC progenitors in embryonic mice, and found that the adult HSC compartment is a mosaic of embryo-derived HSC clones, some of which are unexpectedly large. Most HSC clones gave rise to multilineage or oligolineage fates, arguing against unilineage priming, and suggesting coherent usage of the potential of cells in a clone. The spreading of barcodes, both after induction in embryos and in adult mice, revealed a basic split between common myeloid-erythroid development and common lymphocyte development, supporting the long-held but contested view of a tree-like haematopoietic structure.

Lineage tracing reveals hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) fates, while single-cell RNA sequencing identifies snapshots of HSC transcriptomes. To obtain information on fate plus transcriptome in the same cell, we developed the PolyloxExpress allele, enabling Cre-recombinase-dependent RNA barcoding in situ. Linking fates to single HSC transcriptomes provided the information required to identify transcriptional signatures of HSC fates, which were not apparent in single-HSC transcriptomes alone. We find that differentiation-inactive, multilineage, and lineage-restricted HSC clones reside in distinct regions of the transcriptional landscape of hematopoiesis. Differentiation-inactive HSC clones are closer to the origin of the transcriptional trajectory, yet they are not characterized by a quiescent gene signature. Fate-specific gene signatures imply coherence of clonal HSC fates, and HSC output toward short-lived lineage progenitors indicates stability of HSC fates over time. These combined analyses of fate and transcriptome under physiological conditions may pave the way toward identifying molecular determinants of HSC fates.

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