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  • The EMBO Journal (2007) 26, 184 - 196
  • doi:10.1038/sj.emboj.7601480

Published online: 7 December 2006

Characterization of GATA-1+ hemangioblastic cells in the mouse embryo

Tomomasa Yokomizo1, Satoru Takahashi1, Naomi Mochizuki1, Takashi Kuroha1, Masatsugu Ema1, Asami Wakamatsu1, Ritsuko Shimizu1, Osamu Ohneda1,2, Motomi Osato3, Hitoshi Okada4, Toshihisa Komori5, Minetaro Ogawa6, Shin-Ichi Nishikawa7, Yoshiaki Ito3 and Masayuki Yamamoto1,2

  1. Institute of Basic Medical Sciences and Center for TARA, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan
  2. JST-ERATO Environmental Response Project, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan
  3. Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology and Oncology Research Institute, Proteos, Singapore, Singapore
  4. Cancer Institute, Kami-ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo, Japan
  5. Division of Cell Biology, Department of Developmental and Reconstructive Medicine, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Sakamoto, Nagasaki, Japan
  6. Department of Cell Differentiation, Institute of Molecular Embryology and Genetics, Kumamoto University, Minatojima-minamicho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Japan
  7. Riken Center for Developmental Biology, Minatojima-minamicho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, Japan

Correspondence to:

Satoru Takahashi, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences and Center for TARA, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba 305-8575, Japan. Tel.: +81 29 853 7516; Fax: +81 29 853 6965; E-mail: satoruta@md.tsukuba.ac.jp

Masayuki Yamamoto, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences and Center for TARA, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba 305-8575, Japan. Tel.: +81 29 853 6158; Fax: +81 29 853 7318; E-mail: masi@tara.tsukuba.ac.jp

Received 21 March 2006; Accepted 7 November 2006

Hemangioblasts are thought to be one of the sources of hematopoietic progenitors, yet little is known about their localization and fate in the mouse embryo. We show here that a subset of cells co-expressing the hematopoietic marker GATA-1 and the endothelial marker VE-cadherin localize on the yolk sac blood islands at embryonic day 7.5. Clonal analysis demonstrated that GATA-1+ cells isolated from E7.0–7.5 embryos include a common precursor for hematopoietic and endothelial cells. Moreover, this precursor possesses primitive and definitive hematopoietic bipotential. By using a transgenic complementation rescue approach, GATA-1+ cell-derived progenitors were selectively restored in Runx1-deficient mice. In the rescued mice, definitive erythropoiesis was recovered but the rescued progenitors did not display multilineage hematopoiesis or intra-aortic hematopoietic clusters. These results provide evidence of the presence of GATA-1+ hemangioblastic cells in the extra-embryonic region and also their functional contribution to hematopoiesis in the embryo.

  • Keywords:

    • GATA-1,
    • hemangioblast,
    • rescue,
    • Runx1,
    • VE-cadherin