Cell lineage denotes the developmental history of a tissue or organ from the fertilized egg. This is based on the tracking of an organism's cellular ancestry due to the cell divisions and relocation as time progresses. This starts with the originator cells and finishes with a mature cell that can no longer divide.

This type of lineage can be studied by marking a cell (with fluorescent molecules or other traceable markers) and following its progeny after cell division. Some organisms, such as ''C. elegans'',