In vivo repopulating activity emerges at the onset of hematopoietic specification during embryonic stem cell differentiation.

ABSTRACT: The generation of in vivo repopulating hematopoietic cells from in vitro differentiating embryonic stem cells has remained a long-standing challenge. To date, hematopoietic engraftment has mostly been achieved through the enforced expression of ectopic transcription factors. Here, we describe serum-free culture conditions that allow the generation of in vivo repopulating hematopoietic cells in the absence of ectopically expressed factors. We show that repopulating activity arises immediately upon the commitment of mesodermal precursors to the blood program, within the first wave of hematopoietic specification. We establish that the formation of these progenitors is extremely transient and exquisitely sensitive to the cytokine milieu. Our findings define the precise differentiating stage at

SUBMITTER: Pearson S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4375940 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature