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Stem cells

Imaging the origin of HSCs

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 11, pages 232–233 (2010)Cite this article

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“HSCs originate directly from endothelial cells with haematopoietic potential”

Bertrand et al. and Kissa and Herbomel sought to investigate whether HSCs derive from the endothelium using transgenic zebrafish embryos in which kdrl (the zebrafish homologue of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor, which is expressed by endothelial cells) was fluorescently tagged. Both studies reveal that some endothelial cells from the ventral side of the dorsal aorta bud off into the aortic space, where they round up. Kissa and Herbomel observed that the transcription factor Runx1 is required for this process, as loss of Runx1 led to the bursting of the emerging endothelial cells after they initiated changes in morphology. Both studies showed that the emerging cells were haematopoietic, as they expressed the haematopoietic cell markers cmyb and CD41, one of the earliest markers of commitment to haematopoiesis. Using flow cytometry, Bertrand et al. captured the transitional cell intermediates as the haemogenic endothelium gave rise to nascent HSCs. Furthermore, using a lineage tracing strategy they showed that haematopoietic cells in adult animals derive from the haemogenic endothelium during a defined window in embryonic development.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPERS

  1. Bertrand, J. Y. et al. Haematopoietic stem cells derive directly from aortic endothelium during development. Nature 14 Feb 2010 (doi: 10.1038/nature08738)

  2. Kissa, K. & Herbomel, P. Blood stem cells emerge from aortic endothelium by a novel type of cell transition. Nature 14 Feb 2010 (doi: 10.1038/nature08761)

  3. Boisset, J.-C. et al. In vivo imaging of haematopoietic cells emerging from the mouse aortic endothelium. Nature 14 Feb 2010 (doi: 10.1038/nature08764)

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  1. Rachel David
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David, R. Imaging the origin of HSCs. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 11, 232–233 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm2876

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm2876

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