Restricted intra-embryonic origin of bona fide hematopoietic stem cells in the chicken

Abstract

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), responsible for blood cell production, are generated during embryonic development. Human and chicken embryos share features that pose the chicken as a reliable and accessible alternative model to study developmental hematopoiesis. However, the existence of HSCs has never been formally proven in chicken embryos. Here, we established a complete cartography and quantification of hematopoietic cells in the aorta during development. We demonstrated the existence of bona fide HSCs, originating from the chicken embryo aorta (and not the yolk sac, allantois or head), through an in vivo transplantation assay. Embryos transplanted in ovo with GFP embryonic tissues on the chorio-allantoic membrane provided multilineage reconstitution in adulthood. Historically, most breakthrough discoveries in the field of developmental hematopoiesis were first made in birds and later extended to mammals. Our study sheds new light on the avian model as a valuable system to study HSC production and regulation in vivo.