Alejandra Sanjuán-Pla

Aged haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) generate more myeloid cells and fewer lymphoid cells compared with young HSCs, contributing to decreased adaptive immunity in aged individuals. However, it is not known how intrinsic changes to HSCs and shifts in the balance between biased HSC subsets each contribute to the altered lineage output. Here, by analysing HSC transcriptomes and HSC function at the single-cell level, we identify increased molecular platelet priming and functional platelet bias as the predominant age-dependent change to HSCs, including a significant increase in a previously unrecognized class of HSCs that exclusively produce platelets. Depletion of HSC platelet programming through loss of the FOG-1 transcription factor is accompanied by increased lymphoid output. Therefore, increased platelet bias may contribute to the age-associated decrease in lymphopoiesis.

Exposure to limiting oxygen in cells and tissues induce the stabilization and transcriptional activation of the hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1alpha) protein, a key regulator of the hypoxic response. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation has been implicated in the stabilization of HIF-1alpha during this response, but this is still a matter of some debate. In this study we utilize a mitochondria-targeted antioxidant, mitoubiquinone (MitoQ), and examine its effects on the hypoxic stabilization of HIF-1alpha. Our results show that under conditions of reduced oxygen (3% O(2)), MitoQ ablated the hypoxic induction of ROS generation and destabilized HIF-1alpha protein. This in turn led to an abrogation of HIF-1 transcriptional activity. Normoxic stabilization of HIF-1alpha, on the other hand, was unchanged in the presence of MitoQ suggesting that ROS were not involved. This study strongly suggests that mitochondrial ROS contribute to the hypoxic stabilization of HIF-1alpha.