Gata-Independent Regulation of Red Cell Specific Gene Expression.

During vertebrate embryonic hematopoiesis, the first blood cells can be identified by expression of the transcription factor genes scl and GATA2, followed by expression of GATA1, a gene required for the erythroid lineage. A high-throughput in situ hybridization screen in zebrafish analyzed the expression pattern of 3700 clones from a hematopoietic cDNA library and discovered 24 genes with expression in the blood. Examination of gene expression in Biklf, GATA1, GATA2, and GATA1/GATA2-deficient animals revealed that most blood genes are dependent upon GATA factors for expression rather than the Krüppel-like transcription factor Biklf. Three novel genes, expressed specifically in erythroid precursors, did not require GATA factors for their expression, demonstrating that some blood genes are regulated in a GATA-independent manner. These three genes were kelch-repeat protein (kelch repeats have been implicated in diverse cellular functions from actin binding to sequestering transcriptions factors), kiaa0650, which contains an SMC-hinge domain, and testhymin, which has no known structural motifs. By using combinations of antisense morpholinos to the known hematopoietic genes biklf , GATA1, GATA2, and scl, we were able to examine the regulation of these novel genes in double and triple knock-down embryos. While expression of kelch-repeat protein was lost in the absence of GATA1 and Biklf, expression of testhymin and kiaa0650 was maintained in GATA1/GATA2/Biklf-deficient embryos, suggesting that these similarly expressed genes are differentially regulated. As with GATA1, kiaa0650 and kelch-repeat protein required Scl for their expression in the early hematopoietic mesoderm while testhymin did not. Furthermore, loss of Scl and GATA2 did not completely ablate testhymin expression, suggesting that this gene is induced by factors upstream or parallel to Scl and GATA2. Taken together, our zebrafish studies establish a regulation of gene expression by a developmental hierarchy of specific transcription factors that act in combination during blood cell maturation.