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During the formation of the Drosophila heart, a combinatorial network that integrates signaling pathways and tissue-specific transcription factors specifies cardiac progenitors, which then undergo symmetric or asymmetric cell divisions to generate the final population of diversified cardiac cell types. Much has been learned concerning the combinatorial genetic network that initiates cardiogenesis, whereas little is known about how exactly these cardiac progenitors divide and generate the diverse population of cardiac cells. In this study, we examined the cell lineages and cell fate determination in the heart by using various cell cycle modifications. By arresting the cardiac progenitor cell divisions at different developing stages, we determined the exact cell lineages for most cardiac cell types. We found that once cardiac progenitors are specified, they can differentiate without further divisions. Interestingly, the progenitors …