Hematopoietic progenitors and hemocyte lineages in the Drosophila lymph gland.
The Drosophila lymph gland (LG) is a model system for studying hematopoiesis and blood cell homeostasis. Here, we investigated the patterns of division and differentiation of pro-hemocytes in normal developmental conditions and response to wasp parasitism, by combining lineage analyses and molecular markers for each of the three hemocyte types. Our results show that the embryonic LG contains primordial hematopoietic cells which actively divide to give rise to a pool of pro-hemocytes. We found no evidence for the existence of bona fide stem cells and rather suggest that Drosophila pro-hemocytes are regulated as a group of cells, rather than individual stem cells. The fate-restriction of plasmatocyte and crystal cell progenitors occurs between the end of embryogenesis and the end of the first larval instar, while Notch activity is required for the differentiation of crystal cells in third instar larvae only. Upon parasitism, lamellocyte differentiation prevents crystal cell differentiation and lowers plasmatocyte production. We also found that a new population of intermediate progenitors appears at the onset of hemocyte differentiation and accounts for the increasing number of differentiated hemocytes in the third larval instar. These findings provide a new framework to identify parameters of developmental plasticity of the Drosophila lymph gland and hemocyte homeostasis in physiological conditions and in response to immunological cues.
Krzemien
Joanna
J
Centre de Biologie du Développement, UMR 5547 CNRS/UPS, IFR 109, Institut d'Exploration Fonctionnelle des Génomes Université Toulouse 3, 118 route de Narbonne 31062 Toulouse cedex 9, France.
Oyallon
Justine
J
Crozatier
Michèle
M
Vincent
Alain
A
D000818:Animals; D019070:Cell Lineage; D004330:Drosophila / Q000196:embryology*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D006434:Hemocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D007814:Larva / Q000378:metabolism; D008938:Mitosis; D051880:Receptors, Notch / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
D029721:Drosophila Proteins; C497759:N protein, Drosophila; D051880:Receptors, Notch