Lack of a fusion requirement for development of bone marrow-derived epithelia

Abstract

Analysis of developmental plasticity of bone marrow-derived cells (BMDCs) is complicated by the possibility of cell-cell fusion. Here we demonstrate that epithelial cells can develop from BMDCs without cell-cell fusion. We use the Cre/lox system together with β-galactosidase and enhanced green fluorescent protein expression in transgenic mice to identify epithelial cells in the lung, liver, and skin that develop from BMDCs without cell fusion.