We hypothesized that signaling interactions required for HSC maturation from these earlier stages would involve receptors in HSC precursors whose expression is enriched in early pseudotime (i.e., greater in HE than in maturing pre-HSC and progenitors), and cognate ligands whose expression is enriched in HSC-supportive AGM-EC (which can promote HSC formation from E9-E10 haemogenic precursors) and also detected in primary AGM-derived EC (which serve as a niche for HSC formation from HE in vivo). Here, IGFBP7 is linked to hereditary elliptocytosis.