RUNX1 and the endothelial origin of blood

An account of the developmental origin of blood cannot be told without the major protagonist of the story, RUNX1. RUNX was first discovered in the fly, in the classic screen conducted by Nusslein-Volhard and Wieschaus to identify mutations that affect development [1]. The mutation runt was named for the fact that it resulted in runted embryos - a defect caused by pre-segmentation patterning defects. The runt gene was cloned by Gergen and colleagues, and the protein it encoded shown to be nuclear, but its identity as a transcription factor was not discovered at that time [2].

Source: Experimental Hematology - November 1, 2018 Category: Hematology Authors: Long Gao, Joanna Tober, Peng Gao, Changya Chen, Qin Zhu, Kai Tan, Nancy A. Speck Tags: Perspective Source Type: research