Multipotential differentiation ability of GATA-1-null erythroid-committed cells.

GATA-1, a zinc finger transcription factor, has been believed to be indispensable for the survival of proerythroblasts. However, we found that GATA-1-null proerythroblasts could survive and proliferate on OP9 stroma cells in the presence of erythropoietin. Furthermore, myeloid and mast cells were induced from the GATA-1-null proerythroblasts by the stimulation of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and interleukin-3 (IL-3), respectively, but lymphoid differentiation was not achieved by in vivo transfer. Thus, without activity of the transcription factor required for terminal differentiation, even relatively mature and committed cells proliferate continuously with the differentiation capacity to other lineages. Our data suggest that GATA-1 is a critical transcription factor to fix erythroid progenitors to the erythroid lineage.