Fig. 9. Cell fate coordination underpins single-progenitor dynamics in epidermis and esophagus.

a Epidermis and esophageal epithelium are maintained by a single population of progenitor cells. Left panel: Progenitor cells (in green) share the basal layer with post-mitotic keratinocytes in early stages of differentiation (pale red), which are transiently retained in the basal compartment before stratification. Right panel: Simplified representation of the single-progenitor model focusing on individual basal cell fates. Epithelial cell dynamics are dominated by stochastic but skewed fates through spatial coordination between neighboring or sibling cells. Individual basal cells undertake dichotomic decisions: they have the potential to divide but can alternatively differentiate exiting the basal layer. Both probabilities are balanced (50–50%) across the entire proliferating cell population, but can be decompensated or skewed for individual cells depending on their local niche, as reflected with the parameter δ (which works as a context-dependent modulatory factor). b Stochastic progenitor fates explain a scenario of neutral clonal competition dynamics where clones develop into heterogeneous sizes, constrained by cell-cycle time control and fate coordination effects. Displayed is a representative set of epithelial clone dynamics simulated using the parameters inferred for murine esophageal epithelium homeostasis. c, d Our results demonstrate that the outcome of sibling keratinocyte cells is commonly biased toward an excess of asymmetric fates where one decides to divide while the other differentiates, in agreement with a single-progenitor model with low values of r (r < 0.25).