Dynamic activity of Erg promotes aging of the hematopoietic system

Hematopoiesis changes to adapt to the physiology of development and aging. Temporal changes in hematopoiesis parallel age-dependent incidences of blood diseases. Several heterochronic regulators of hematopoiesis have been identified, but how the master transcription factor (TF) circuitry of definitive hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) adapts over the lifespan is unknown. Here, we show that expression of the ETS family TF Erg is adult-biased, and that programmed upregulation of Erg expression during juvenile to adult aging is evolutionarily conserved and required for complete implementation of adult patterns of HSC self-renewal and myeloid, erythroid, and lymphoid differentiation. Erg deficiency maintains fetal transcriptional and epigenetic programs, and persistent juvenile phenotypes in Erg haploinsufficient mice are dependent on deregulation of the fetal-biased TF Hmga2 . Finally, Erg haploinsufficiency in the adult results in fetal-like resistance to leukemogenesis. Overall, we identify a mechanism whereby HSC TF networks are rewired to specify stage-specific hematopoiesis, a finding directly relevant to age-biased blood diseases.

The hematopoietic system undergoes a process of coordinated aging from the juvenile to adult states. Here, we find that expression of ETS family transcription factor Erg is temporally regulated. Impaired upregulation of Erg during the hematopoietic maturation results in persistence of juvenile phenotypes.