title: Functional overlap of GATA-1 and GATA-2 in primitive hematopoietic development.
abstract: Transcription factors GATA-1 and GATA-2 are required for normal hematopoiesis. The loss of either leads to embryonic lethality in knockout mice because of the failure of erythroid maturation and the expansion of progenitors, respectively. As the expression of GATA-1 and GATA-2 overlaps within hematopoietic progenitors, the extent to which these factors functionally compensate for each other during embryogenesis is unknown. As shown here, we have analyzed double-knockout embryos at the yolk sac stage of development and have shown that the combined absence of these GATA factors virtually ablates primitive erythroid cell formation. Thus, the function of GATA-1 and GATA-2 overlaps at the yolk sac stage. Moreover, a GATA factor, either GATA-1 or GATA-2, is required to initiate blood formation in the embryo.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D050981:Erythroid-Specific DNA-Binding Factors; D005260:Female; D050982:GATA1 Transcription Factor; D050989:GATA2 Transcription Factor; D006410:Hematopoiesis / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D013737:Testis / Q000473:pathology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D015017:Yolk Sac / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D050981:Erythroid-Specific DNA-Binding Factors; D050982:GATA1 Transcription Factor; C494688:GATA1 protein, human; D050989:GATA2 Transcription Factor; C494711:GATA2 protein, human; C494689:Gata1 protein, mouse; C494712:Gata2 protein, mouse; D014157:Transcription Factors