Identification and KO of GATA2AS in human erythroid cells. (A) RACE was used to identify the 5’ and 3’ ends of full length GATA2AS, and full length of GATA2AS was cloned for sequencing. (B) Browser shot of human and mouse GATA2 gene loci. The known and novel GATA2AS transcripts in human erythroid cells is shown in green and purple. The 2 promoters of GATA2 are highlighted in blue. The basewise conservation track at the bottom shows conservation of the 2 GATA2 regulatory elements (highlighted in yellow) and GATA2 exons. (C) GATA2AS distribution in cells was detected by RNA FISH in K562 cells. Alexa Fluor 594 (red) labeled the antisense GATA2AS transcript. (D) GATA2AS distribution in K562 cells was detected by RT-qPCR. Cytoplasm-located ACTB and nuclear-located XIST transcripts were used as controls. (E) Expression pattern of GATA2AS during HUDEP2 differentiation was detected by RT-qPCR for undifferentiated and differentiated (day 7) cells. GATA2 and β-globin genes were used as markers of erythroid differentiation. (F) GATA2AS expression was detected in GATA2AS KO and control HUDEP2 cells by RT-qPCR. (G) Proliferation curves of GATA2AS KO HUDEP2 cells during differentiation. (H) Differentiation method (left schematic) of HUDEP2 cells and representative flow cytometry results for differentiation markers CD235a and CD71 in control and GATA2AS KO cells on days 0, 4, 7, and 9. (I) Cell surface expression of CD235a and CD71 during erythroid differentiation, presented as median fluorescence intensity (MFI).