Gene expression signatures of Meis1 conditional knockout hematopoietic stem cells

Meis1 encodes a TALE family homeodomain protein that was first identified as a common retroviral integration site in mouse BHX2 myeloid leukemia. It functions as a DNA binding co-factor of Hox proteins through interacting with Pbx, a member of another TALE family protein. Moreover, Meis1 homozygous knockout mice are embryonic lethal, showing significant defects in vasculogenesis, eye development and hematopoiesis. Severe defects were also observed in adult hematopoiesis by conditional inactivation of Meis1 in vivo. Meis1 is critical to maintain the balance between enter and exit from cell cycles of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), indicating that Meis1 regulates self-renewal and quiescence of HSCs. Total RNA was isolated from KSL cells obtained from poly(I:C)-treated Mx1-Cre Meis1fl/fl and sham-treated Meis1fl/fl mice.