Fig. 3: SunCatcher approach maintains tumorigenic properties and enables analysis of heterogeneity.

a Phase contrast images of indicated Met1 BCs; scale bar = 100 μm. Images are representative of 2 independent observations. b Sand plot showing clonal composition (cumulative percentage) of Met1 BC Pool over 7 days (d) (2 passages) in vitro. c Growth of Met1 Parental (black; Y = 0.3360x + 0.1699) and Met1 BC Pool (gray; Y = 0.3562x + 0.4121) over 8 days in culture; n = 4 replicates per group; data are presented as mean values ± SD. d Growth of tumors from Met1 parental cells (n = 8 tumors) and Met1 BC Pool cells (n = 9 tumors) in FVB mice; n = 5 mice per cohort, data are presented as mean values ± SEM. e, f Mass (grams) of tumors (e) and spleens (f) from mice in experiment represented in (d); data are presented as mean values ± SEM. g Quantitative PCR assessment of barcode composition in the Met1 BC Pool at time of injection, in each of ten tumors (n = 5 mice) after 18 days, and average composition of all tumors in the cohort. Bars show indicated barcodes as a percent of total barcode signal (100%) within each sample; tumor mass is indicated above each bar. Key shows color code for each BC. h, i Comparison of the average representation of each BC in tumors for each of two independent experiments (n = 8 tumors for experiment 1; n = 6 tumors for experiment 2). BCs that constituted >0.5% of total BC signal (h) and <0.5% (i). Correlation coefficients (R², simple linear regression) are shown; data are presented as mean values ± SEM. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.