The production of red blood cells occurs by a process called erythropoiesis whereby erythroid progenitor cells proliferate and differentiate into erythroid precursor cells (see figure above). Normally, this process is highly dependent upon and regulated by a hormone produced by the kidneys called erythropoietin. Our laboratory investigates genes transcribed in human erythroid cells as they differentiate into mature red blood cells. Red blood cells have the fundamental role of delivering oxygen from the lungs to the other body tissues, and diseases associated with erythroid cells affect millions of people. We hope this data will be useful for the understanding and improved treatment or prevention of those diseases including all forms of anemia, erythroleukemia, and malaria.

Red blood cells in the circulation arise from hematopoietic stem cells that proliferate as erythroid progenitors and differentiate into erythroid precursor cells in response to the hormone erythropoietin. Messenger RNA was isolated from those cells and used to generate gene libraries. Sequencing several thousand expressed sequence tags (EST) from those libraries was then performed. Those EST and sequences encoding several hundred additional genes with known expression in erythroid cells are compiled here as a database of human erythroid gene activity. The database is organized and linked according to the location of these sequences within the human genome.