There and back again: The mechanisms of differentiation and transdifferentiation in Drosophila blood cells

Transdifferentiation is a conversion of an already differentiated cell type into another without the involvement stem cells. This transition well described in case vertebrate immune cells, as Drosophila melanogaster, which therefore serves suitable model to study process detail. In larva, latest single-cell sequencing methods enabled clusterization phagocytic blood plasmatocytes, are capable transdifferentiation encapsulating lamellocytes. Here we summarize available data past years on plasmatocyte-lamellocyte transition, and make attempt harmonize them with transcriptome-based clustering better understand underlying mechanisms Drosophila, general.