Regulation and Functional Analysis of Type X Collagen

骨形态发生蛋白（BMP）是转化生长因子-b（TGF-b）家族的细胞因子，在动物发育过程中发挥各种不同的作用。虽然BMP最初被鉴定为它们的骨诱导能力，但令人惊讶的是，目前没有体内证据表明在骨骼形成中BMP信号传导的一般要求。标准小鼠编码BMP信号蛋白的基因敲除并没有很好的信息，因为许多小鼠在骨骼形成之前的早期胚胎发生期间死亡。我们已经进行了条件遗传学研究，并提供证据表明BMP I型受体是必不可少的，并为骨骼形成冗余，从而揭示BMP信号的复杂性。与在肢体间充质和软骨细胞中表达cre重组酶的转基因小鼠相结合， 我们打算研究骨形成蛋白信号蛋白在骨骼发育中的需求和复杂性。

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP) are members of the transforming growth factor-b (TGF-b) family of cytokines that play a variety of different roles during animal development. Although BMPs were first identified for their bone-inducing abilities, surprisingly there is currently no in vivo evidence for a general requirement for BMP signaling in skeleton formation. Standard mouse knockouts for genes encoding BMP signaling proteins have not been very informative because many die during early embryogenesis before skeleton formation. We have performed conditional genetic studies and provide evidence that BMP type I receptors are essential and act redundantly for skeleton formation, thus revealing BMP signaling complexity. In combination with transgenic mice that express cre recombinase in limb mesenchyme and chondrocytes, we propose to examine the requirement and complexity of BMP signaling proteins in skeletal development.