Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Whether embryonic and adult blood derive from a single (yolk sac) or dual (yolk sac plus intraembryonic) origin is controversial. Here, we show, in Xenopus, that the yolk sac (VBI) and intraembryonic (DLP) blood compartments derive from distinct blastomeres in the 32-cell embryo. The first adult hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are thought to form in association with the floor of the dorsal aorta, and we have detected such aortic clusters in Xenopus using hematopoietic markers. Lineage tracing shows that the aortic clusters derive from the blastomere that gives rise to the DLP. These observations indicate that the first adult HSCs arise independently of the embryonic lineage.

Type

Journal article

Journal

Cell

Publication Date

15/09/2000

Volume

102

Pages

787 - 796

Keywords

Age Factors, Animals, Aorta, Blastocyst, Cell Lineage, Core Binding Factor Alpha 2 Subunit, DNA-Binding Proteins, Embryo, Nonmammalian, Endothelial Growth Factors, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, Hematopoietic Stem Cells, Lymphokines, Proto-Oncogene Proteins, RNA, Messenger, Transcription Factors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors, Xenopus, Yolk Sac