Unconventional interaction of the zebrafish thrombopoietin receptor with Mapk14a determines thrombocyte development and function.

Background: Thrombopoietin receptor signalling permits the thrombocyte lineage development in human, mice as well as zebrafish. While the sequence, structure, signalling, and function of TpoR is well-conserved in humans and mice, the zebrafish thrombopoietin receptor (zTpoR) remains less understood.

Objectives: In this article, we identified the interactome of the cytoplasmic domain of zTpoR.

In and out: Traffic and dynamics of thrombopoietin receptor.

Thrombopoiesis had long been a challenging area of study due to the rarity of megakaryocyte precursors in the bone marrow and the incomplete understanding of its regulatory cytokines. A breakthrough was achieved in the early 1990s with the discovery of the thrombopoietin receptor (TpoR) and its ligand thrombopoietin (TPO). This accelerated research in thrombopoiesis, including the uncovering of the molecular basis of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) and the advent of drugs to treat thrombocytopenic purpura.