Definitive hematopoiesis emerges during embryogenesis via an endothelial-to-hematopoietic transition. We attempted to induce this process in mouse fibroblasts by screening a panel of factors for hemogenic activity. We identified a combination of four transcription factors, Gata2, Gfi1b, cFos, and Etv6 that efficiently induces endothelial-like precursor cells with the subsequent appearance of hematopoietic cells.The precursor cells express a human CD34 reporter, Sca1 and Prominin1 within a global endothelial transcription program. Emergent hematopoietic cells possess nascent/specifying hematopoietic stem cell gene expression profiles and cell surface phenotypes. After transgene silencing and reaggregation culture, the specified cells generate hematopoietic colonies in vitro. Thus, we have shown that a simple combination of transcription factors is sufficient to induce a complex, dynamic and multi-step developmental programin vitro. These findings provide insights into the specification of definitive hemogenesis and a platform for future development of patient-specific stem/progenitor cells as well as more differentiated blood products. SOURCE: Betty Chang (betty.chang@mssm.edu) -  Mount Sinai School of Medicine

Pluto Bioinformatics

GSE47497: Induction of a hemogenic program in mouse fibroblasts