Identification of Nfel1a and Nfel3 as novel regulators for zebrafish thrombopoiesis

Abstract

In mammalian hematopoiesis, megakaryocytes mature and become polyploid in the bone marrow before releasing platelets into circulation. In contrast, fish produce thrombocytes in kidney marrow, where young thrombocytes undergo maturation in circulation, akin to platelets. Despite morphological differences, our single-cell sequencing revealed significant gene expression similarities between fish thrombocytes and mammalian megakaryocytes, including Nfe2, which is crucial in platelet production. In addition to nfe2 expression, we found four nfe2-related genes, nfe2I1a, nfe2I1b, nfe2I2a, and nfe2I3, were expressed in mature thrombocytes. However, only nfe2, nfe2l2a, and nfe2l3 are expressed in young thrombocytes. Thus, we hypothesized that Nfe2-related factors may also be involved in thrombocyte production. To address this, we knocked down the four novel nfe2-related genes by the piggyback method and found both young and mature thrombocytes reduced when nfe2, nfe2l1a, and nfe2l3 were knocked down. They also exhibited greater gill bleeding and prolonged time to occlusion (TTO) compared to controls. In summary, our study shows Nfe2I1a and Nfe2l3 as novel transcription factors that are positive regulators influencing adult zebrafish thrombopoiesis.