Abstract
The zebrafish (Danio rerio) has emerged as a valuable model organism that is amenable for large-scale chemical and genetic screens. The ability of zebrafish to produce large quantities of synchronized, externally fertilized, transparent embryos makes them ideal for screens, which often are not possible in mammalian models. Signaling pathways important for hematopoiesis are well conserved between zebrafish and mammals, making many targets identified in zebrafish screens applicable to mammals. Hematopoiesis in zebrafish occurs in two waves: the primitive or embryonic wave and the definitive or adult wave. Definitive hematopoietic stem cells arise in the aorta-gonad-mesonephros region (AGM) and express conserved markers such as runx1 and c-myb that allow for the detection of stem cells by whole-mount in situ hybridization (WISH). In this protocol, we will discuss a chemical screen in zebrafish embryos to detect compounds that expand or deplete hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in vivo. This type of screen represents a powerful tool to study HSCs in zebrafish.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Trista E North for providing Fig. 1. We would also like to thank Trista E North, Jill L.O. de Jong, Xuining Le, and Richard M. White for providing their expertise in chemical screening and in particular Richard M.White for the chemoinformatics part of the protocol. Finally, we would like to thank Trista E North, Jill L.O. de Jong, and Richard M. White for careful review of the manuscript. Eirini Trompouki is supported by Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund.
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Trompouki, E., Zon, L.I. (2010). Small Molecule Screen in Zebrafish and HSC Expansion. In: Ding, S. (eds) Cellular Programming and Reprogramming. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 636. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-691-7_19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-691-7_19
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