Cartography of hematopoietic stem cell commitment dependent upon a reporter for transcription factor activation

A hierarchical hematopoietic developmental tree has been proposed based on the result of prospective purification of lineage-restricted progenitors. For more detailed mapping for hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) commitment, we tracked the expression of PU.1, a major granulocyte/monocyte (GM)- and lymphoid-related transcription factor, from the HSC to the myelolymphoid progenitor stages by using a mouse line harboring a knockin reporter for PU.1. This approach enabled us to find a new progenitor population committed to GM and lymphoid lineages within the HSC fraction. This result suggests that there should be another developmental pathway independent of the conventional one with myeloid versus lymphoid bifurcation, represented by common myeloid progenitors and common lymphoid progenitors, respectively. The utilization of the transcription factor expression as a functional marker might be useful to obtain cartography of the hematopoietic development at a higher resolution.