Description
Of all mature hematopoietic cell types, lymphocytes are most sophisticated in terms of their combination of highly regulated, differentiated characteristics with virtually unlimited proliferative potential and the ability to respond correctly in a wide variety of microenvironments. The developmental process that generates these cells from pluripotent hematopoietic precursors needs to install regulatory circuits so robust that they can faithfully maintain cell-type-specific characteristics in different places, different times, and after different numbers of divisions. Exciting recent advances are now helping us begin to understand the regulatory cascade that pushes cells through the transition from pluripotent progenitor to committed B or T lymphocyte.
