Fate Mapping Reveals Separate Origins of T Cells and Myeloid Lineages in the Thymus

Year
2010
Type(s)
Author(s)
Susan M Schlenner, Vikas Madan, Katrin Busch, Annette Tietz, Carolin Läufle, Celine Costa, Carmen Blum, Hans Jörg Fehling, Hans-Reimer Rodewald
Source
@article{article, author = {Schlenner, Susan and Madan, Vikas and Busch, Katrin and Tietz, Annette and Läufle, Carolin and Costa, Celine and Blum, Carmen and Jörg Fehling, Hans and Rodewald, Hans-Reimer}, year = {2010}, month = {03}, pages = {426-36}, title = {Fate Mapping Reveals Separate Origins of T Cells and Myeloid Lineages in the Thymus}, volume = {32}, booktitle = {Immunity} }
Url
http://www.cell.com/immunity/fulltext/S1074-7613(10)00088-9
BibTeX
BibTeX

The cellular differentiation pathway originating from the bone marrow leading to early T lymphocytes remains poorly understood. The view that T cells branch off from a lymphoid-restricted pathway has recently been challenged by a model proposing a common progenitor for T cell and myeloid lineages. We generated interleukin-7 receptor alpha (Il7r) Cre recombinase knockin mice and traced lymphocyte development by visualizing the history of Il7r expression. Il7r fate mapping labeled all T cells but few myeloid cells. More than 85% of T cell progenitors were Il7r reporter(+) and, hence, had arisen from an Il7r-expressing pathway. In contrast, the overwhelming majority of myeloid cells in the thymus were derived from Il7r reporter(-) cells. Thus, lymphoid-restricted progenitors are the major route to T cells, and distinct origins of lymphoid and myeloid lineages represent a fundamental hallmark of hematopoiesis.