Functional p85α gene is required for normal murine fetal erythropoiesis

In vitro studies suggest that activation of class I_A phosphatidyiinositol 3 (PI-3) kinase is necessary for normal erythroid cell development. However, when class I_A PI-3 kinase-deficient mice were generated by a targeted deletion of the p85α regulatory subunit, fetal erythropoiesis was reportedly unaffected. Given the discrepancies between these studies, we performed a more detailed in vivo analysis of class I_A PI-3 kinase-deficient embryos. Day-14.5 p85α^-/- embryos are pale with a marked reduction of mature erythrocytes in their peripheral blood. Further, the absolute number and frequency of both early (erythroid burst-forming unit [BFU-E]) and late erythroid progenitors (erythroid colony-forming unit [CFU-E]) are reduced in p85α^-/- fetal livers compared with wild-type controls, which is associated with reduced proliferation. Taken together, these data establish an important role for p85α and class I_A PI-3 kinase in regulating the development of both early and late erythroid progenitors in fetal liver.