In summary, our experiments support our simple model of metabolic symbiosis in which A549 paraclonal cells exhibit increased glycolysis, as evidenced by increased ECAR and expression of glycolysis-associated genes, and secrete lactate, which drives the tumor-initiating phenotype of holoclonal cells associated with increased OXPHOS, ALDH activity, SOX2 expression, and GLDC expression. The gene discussed is SOX2; the disease is neoplasm.