RhoA GTPase controls cytokinesis and programmed necrosis of hematopoietic progenitors

Hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) are central to hematopoiesis as they provide large numbers of lineage-defined blood cells necessary to sustain blood homeostasis. They are one of the most actively cycling somatic cells, and their precise control is critical for hematopoietic homeostasis. The small GTPase RhoA is an intracellular molecular switch that integrates cytokine, chemokine, and adhesion signals to coordinate multiple context-dependent cellular processes. By using a RhoA conditional knockout mouse model, we show that RhoA deficiency causes a multilineage hematopoietic failure that is associated with defective multipotent HPCs. Interestingly, RhoA(−/−) hematopoietic stem cells retained long-term engraftment potential but failed to produce multipotent HPCs and lineage-defined blood cells. This multilineage hematopoietic failure was rescued by reconstituting wild-type RhoA into the RhoA(−/−) Lin(−)Sca-1(+)c-Kit(+) compartment. Mechanistically, RhoA regulates actomyosin signaling, cytokinesis, and programmed necrosis of the HPCs, and loss of RhoA results in a cytokinesis failure of HPCs manifested by an accumulation of multinucleated cells caused by failed abscission of the cleavage furrow after telophase. Concomitantly, the HPCs show a drastically increased death associated with increased TNF–RIP-mediated necrosis. These results show that RhoA is a critical and specific regulator of multipotent HPCs during cytokinesis and thus essential for multilineage hematopoiesis.