Odd-skipped maintains prohemocyte potency and blocks blood cell development in Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: Studies using Drosophila have contributed significantly to our understanding of regulatory mechanisms that control stem cell fate choice. The Drosophila blood cell progenitor or prohemocyte shares important characteristics with mammalian hematopoietic stem cells, including quiescence, niche dependence, and the capacity to form all three fly blood cell types. This report extends our understanding of prohemocyte fate choice by showing that the zinc-finger protein Odd-skipped promotes multipotency and blocks differentiation. Odd-skipped was expressed in prohemocytes and downregulated in terminally differentiated plasmatocytes. Furthermore, Odd-skipped maintained the prohemocyte population and blocked differentiation of plasmatocytes and lamellocytes but not crystal cells. A previous study sho

SUBMITTER: Gao H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3773710 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature