Concise Review: Blood Relatives: Formation and regulation of hematopoietic stem cells by the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors stem cell leukemia and lymphoblastic leukemia-derived sequence 1

Abstract

The basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) proteins are a large family of transcription factors that regulate the formation and fate of tissue stem cells. In hematopoiesis, the two major bHLH factors are stem cell leukemia (SCL) and lymphoblastic leukemia-derived sequence 1 (LYL1), both identified more than 20 years ago in chromosomal translocations occurring in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. SCL was termed the master regulator of hematopoiesis following the observation that SCL knockout mice die from complete lack of blood formation. However, once established, SCL is no longer required for maintenance of hematopoiesis. Pull-down experiments together with add-back experiments in SCL-null embryo..