Nle deletion provokes HSC and immature progenitor disappearance. (A) Count of myeloid and lymphoid progenitors per hindlimb 7 d after Cre induction. Bars are means (SD) for n ≥ 3 mice per genotype. This experiment was performed twice. (B) Count of LSK CD34⁻ cells per hindlimb at different time points after Cre induction. Bars are means (SD) for n ≥ 13 mice per genotype pooled from at least three independent experiments. (C) Count of SLAM cells per hindlimb at different time points after Cre induction. Bars are means (SD) for n = 6–13 mice per genotype pooled from two or three independent experiments. (D) Representative FACS profiles of BM cells from control or Nle^cKO mice at day 5. Cells were labeled with LSK (left) or SLAM (middle) markers. Nle^cKO SLAM cells express lower levels of c-Kit (right). Similar results were obtained from two independent experiments. The black circle indicates a transitory Lin⁻ Sca-1⁺ c-Kit^low cell popluation in Nle^cKO BM. (E) Schematic representation of the transplantation strategy. Both control and Nle^cKO mice were injected five consecutive days before transplantation. (F) PCR analysis was performed on BM at the time of transplantation and after 9 mo and on PB cells at different time points after transplantation. Similar results were obtained from two independent experiments. *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.005; ***, P < 0.0005.