Article of Significant Interest Selected from This Issue by the Editors

Abstract

Gjini et al. (p. 789 – 804) investigated how targeted disruption of the gene encoding Tet2, a DNA methylcytosine oxidase crucial for converting 5-methylcytosine to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC), affects zebrafish hematopoiesis. Zebrafish homozygous for tet2 inactivation exhibited low levels of 5-hmC specifically in hematopoietic cells and developed myelodysplasia of the kidney marrow at 11 months of age. Over the next 10 months, this disorder evolved to anemia and myelodysplastic syndrome. The zebrafish model of tet2 loss described is ideal for small-molecule screens in embryos to identify compounds with specific activity against tet2 mutant hematopoietic stem cells.