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Updated: Jun 18, 2026

Identification and Isolation of Burst-Forming Unit and Colony-Forming Unit Erythroid Progenitors from Mouse Tissue by Flow Cytometry
Published on: November 4, 2022
PU.1 directly regulates cdk6 gene expression, linking the cell proliferation and differentiation programs in
Kevin S Choe1, Olga Ujhelly, Sandeep N Wontakal
1Department of Cell Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.
Abstract:
Cell proliferation and differentiation are highly coordinated processes during normal development. Most leukemia cells are blocked from undergoing terminal differentiation and also exhibit uncontrolled proliferation. Dysregulated expression of transcription factor PU.1 is strongly associated with Friend virus-induced erythroleukemia. PU.1 inhibits erythroid differentiation by binding to and inhibiting GATA-1. PU.1 also may be involved in controlling proliferation of erythroid cells. We reported previously that the G(1) phase-specific cyclin-dependent kinase 6 (CDK6) also blocks erythroid differentiation. We now report that PU.1 directly stimulates transcription of the cdk6 gene in both normal erythroid progenitors and erythroleukemia cells, as well as in macrophages. We propose that PU.1 coordinates proliferation and differentiation in immature erythroid cells by inhibiting the GATA-1-mediated gene expression program and also by regulating expression of genes that control progression through the G(1) phase of the cell cycle, the period during which the decision to differentiate is made.
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