Gene expression profile of HoxA9 over expressing and empty vector (EV) control Hemato-Endothelial Progenitors (HEPs) subpopulations

During hematopoietic differentiation of hESCs, HOXA9 expression parallels hematopoietic development but is restricted to the hemogenic precursors (HEP, CD31+CD34+CD45-), and diminishes as HEPs differentiate into blood cells (CD45+). Enforced expression of Hoxa9 in hESCs robustly promoted differentiation into primitive (CD34+CD45+) and total (CD45+) blood cells with higher clonogenic (CFU) potential. To identify patterns of gene expression that could explain at the molecular level the developmental impact of HOXA9 in hematopoietic commitment of hESCs, we performed gene expression profile in FACS-purified EV- and HOXA9-HEPs. 10^5 HoxA9 over expressing and EV control HEPs purified by FACS from H9 and AND1 hEBs at day 15 of hematopoietic differentiation were used for gene expression analysis using Whole Human Genome Oligo Microarray chips (Agilent Technologies).