Kinetics of Blood Cell Differentiation During Hematopoiesis Revealed by Quantitative Long-Term Live Imaging

The study utilized a long-term organ culture and imaging strategy to investigate hematopoiesis in flies, leveraging genetic and transgenic tools. It was found that fly blood progenitors underwent symmetric cell divisions, with division linked to cell size and spatial orientation. Quantitative imaging revealed two types of differentiation with distinct kinetics. Additionally, infection-induced activation of hematopoiesis was shown to modulate the kinetics of cell differentiation. The findings demonstrated that even minor changes in proliferation and differentiation kinetics could significantly transform blood progenitors from a quiescent to an activated state.