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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Aug 1.
Published in final edited form as: Trends Cell Biol. 2013 Apr 16;23(8):357–364. doi: 10.1016/j.tcb.2013.03.001

Figure 1. Maintenance of stem cell populations by division asymmetry or population asymmetry.

Figure 1

(a) With division asymmetry, stem cells (gray) always divide to produce one stem cell daughter (gray) and one differentiating daughter cell (purple). The same number of stem cells is present both before and after division. (b) With population asymmetry, stem cells undergo either symmetric renewal to produce two stem daughters (gray) or symmetric differentiation to produce two differentiating daughters (purple) at equal frequencies. Overall, as the stem cell population divides, the number of stem cells remains constant.