Mesoderm-derived PDGFRA+ cells regulate the emergence of hematopoietic stem cells in the dorsal aorta

Chandrakanthan et al. identify Mesp1-derived PDGFRA(+) stromal cells as aortic endothelial precursors that regulate long-term haematopoietic-stem-cell generation during development, thus providing a new potential tool to generate engraftable haematopoietic stem cells. Mouse haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) first emerge at embryonic day 10.5 (E10.5), on the ventral surface of the dorsal aorta, by endothelial-to-haematopoietic transition. We investigated whether mesenchymal stem cells, which provide an essential niche for long-term HSCs (LT-HSCs) in the bone marrow, reside in the aorta-gonad-mesonephros and contribute to the development of the dorsal aorta and endothelial-to-haematopoietic transition. Here we show that mesoderm-derived PDGFRA(+) stromal cells (Mesp1(der) PSCs) contribute to the haemogenic endothelium of the dorsal aorta and populate the E10.5-E11.5 aorta-gonad-mesonephros but by E13.5 were replaced by neural-crest-derived PSCs (Wnt1(der) PSCs). Co-aggregating non-haemogenic endothelial cells with Mesp1(der) PSCs but not Wnt1(der) PSCs resulted in activation of a haematopoietic transcriptional programme in endothelial cells and generation of LT-HSCs. Dose-dependent inhibition of PDGFRA or BMP, WNT and NOTCH signalling interrupted this reprogramming event. Together, aorta-gonad-mesonephros Mesp1(der) PSCs could potentially be harnessed to manufacture LT-HSCs from endothelium.