The orphan homeobox geneHexhas been shown to be critical for normal murine liver development usingHex-/- mice. Because of the early lethality of theHex-/- mice, however, in vitro embryonic stem cell differentiation assays were employed to elucidate the role ofHexin murine hematopoiesis. These studies revealed thatHexis not required for hemangioblast development but is required in a dose-dependent fashion for hemangioblast differentiation to definitive hematopoietic progenitors. Contained here are the methods needed to conduct embryonic stem cell-derived in vitro hematopoietic assays.
