During haematopoiesis in Drosophila embryos, prohaemocytes in the head mesoderm differentiate mainly into plasmocytes, as specified by the transcription factors Glial cells missing (GCM) and GCM2, and into crystal cells, which requires the RUNX transcription factor Lozenge (LZ). On p. 4635, Batailléand colleagues report that a dynamic interplay between GCM/GCM2 and LZ determines the fate of bipotent prohaemocytes in Drosophila embryos. The researchers show that gcm is initially expressed in all prohaemocytes but that its downregulation in the anterior-most row of prohaemocytes is required for the initiation of lz expression. The differentiation of the lz-expressing precursors into crystal cells or plasmocytes is subsequently regulated by gcm/gcm2 activity. However, lz does not repress gcm. Thus, the transition from a bipotent haematopoietic precursor to lineage-restricted precursors in Drosophila embryos does not rely on reciprocal antagonism between two lineage-specific transcription factors, unlike some cell fate decisions during mammalian haematopoiesis.
Haematopoietic decision making
Haematopoietic decision making. Development 15 October 2005; 132 (20): e2006. doi:
Download citation file:
Advertisement
Cited by
Call for papers: Uncovering Developmental Diversity
Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue: Uncovering Developmental Diversity. This issue will be coordinated by our academic Editor Cassandra Extavour (Harvard University, USA) alongside two Guest Editors: Liam Dolan (Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Austria) and Karen Sears (University of California Los Angeles, USA).
Choose Development in 2024
In this Editorial, Development Editor-in-Chief James Briscoe and Executive Editor Katherine Brown explain how you support your community by publishing in Development and how the journal champions serious science, community connections and progressive publishing.
Journal Meeting: From Stem Cells to Human Development
Register now for the 2024 Development Journal Meeting From Stem Cells to Human Development. Early-bird registration deadline: 3 May. Abstract submission deadline: 21 June.
Pluripotency of a founding field: rebranding developmental biology
This collaborative Perspective, the result of a workshop held in 2023, proposes a set of community actions to increase the visibility of the developmental biology field. The authors make recommendations for new funding streams, frameworks for collaborations and mechanisms by which members of the community can promote themselves and their research.
Read & Publish Open Access publishing: what authors say
We have had great feedback from authors who have benefitted from our Read & Publish agreement with their institution and have been able to publish Open Access with us without paying an APC. Read what they had to say.