Final answer:
From the megakaryocyte-erythrocyte progenitor, both platelets (from megakaryocytes) and red blood cells (erythrocytes) are derived, being essential components of the blood for clotting and oxygen transport respectively.
Step-by-step explanation:
Cells that come from the megakaryocyte-erythrocyte progenitor are essential components of the blood and include platelets and red blood cells (erythrocytes). Megakaryocytes are large cells that give rise to platelets, which are not whole cells but rather fragments of cytoplasm surrounded by a plasma membrane.
These platelets are critical for blood clotting. The same progenitor cells also give rise to red blood cells, which are specialized for oxygen transport. The development from stem cells to these mature blood components is regulated by various hemopoietic growth factors.
Before differentiating into their mature forms, precursor cells such as megakaryoblasts, which are precursors to megakaryocytes, and proerythroblasts, which become reticulocytes, go through several stages. Reticulocytes then mature into erythrocytes after ejecting their nucleus and most other organelles. This intricate process of differentiation occurs primarily in the red bone marrow but can also happen extramedullary or outside the medullary cavity in places like the liver and spleen under certain conditions.