The Drosophila histone demethylase dKDM5/LID regulates hematopoietic development

• dKDM5/LID is abundant in embryonic and larval plasmatocytes.
• dKDM5/LID regulates hemocytes proliferation.
• dKDM5/LID regulates transcription factors affecting proliferation and differentiation.
• dKDM5/LID regulates some small GTPases affecting hemocytes migration.

dKDM5/LID regulates transcription of essential developmental genes and, thus, is required for different developmental processes. Here, we report the essential contribution of dKDM5/LID to hematopoiesis in Drosophila. Our results show that dKDM5/LID is abundant in hemocytes and that its depletion induces over-proliferation and differentiation defects of larval hemocytes and disrupts organization of the actin cytoskeleton. We also show that dKDM5/LID regulates expression of key factors of hematopoietic development. In particular, dKDM5/LID depletion up-regulates expression of several transcription factors involved in hemocytes proliferation and differentiation as well as of several small-GTPases that link signaling effectors to actin cytoskeleton formation and dynamics.