C. van den Berg is the first author of a 1995 study testing positional control of cell fate in the root apical meristem of Arabidopsis thaliana. The team used laser ablation to remove selected biological cells and observe how neighbouring cells subsequently behaved.[ref]
The result challenged a simple ancestry-only account of cell differentiation. Despite regular cell lineage relationships in the meristem, position-dependent signals could guide fate, including signalling from more mature cells toward initial cells.[ref]
Cell fate in the Arabidopsis root meristem determined by directional signalling by C. van den Berg and others. Abstract: positional control and signalling direction
The motivating distinction is between a cell's family history and its current surroundings. Removing a neighbour changes local context without rewriting the remaining cell's ancestry. Subsequent changes in cell fate can therefore test whether developmental identity depends only on descent or also on positional information.
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