Functional characterization of noncollagenous bone matrix proteins

在钙化的组织中，非胶原蛋白分散在细胞外基质中，虽然它们是次要成分，但它们对矿物质的沉积和负责组织形成的细胞的活动起着重要的调节作用。阐明被牵连的蛋白质表达其功能的分子机制是科学家在理解身体如何功能以及疾病如何改变这种模式方面面临的下一个挑战。尽管关于非胶原蛋白的生化数据相对丰富，但它们在整个动物生物学发挥作用的体内的确切作用仍有待确定。关于这些蛋白质的活性和性质的信息在很大程度上是从它们的时空表达模式中推断出来的，并且经常使用体外系统进行实验测试，在体外系统中，一次最多只能评估几个参数。基因转移将用于在膜内骨形成的大鼠模型中创造局部转基因条件，并检查主要非胶原骨基质蛋白的特定功能域的作用。这种方法提供了一个简单的系统，在这个系统中，可以在反映身体复杂性质的环境中测试分子的部分和区域的功能和治疗潜力。这样的方法比创建击倒的方法耗时更少，成本更高

In calcified tissues, noncollagenous proteins are dispersed throughout the extracellular matrix and although they represent minor constituents, they exert major regulatory influences on the deposition of mineral and the activity of the cells responsible for the formation of the tissue. Elucidating the molecular mechanisms by which implicated proteins express their function is the next challenge scientists face in understanding how the body functions and how disease alters this pattern. Despite the relative abundance of biochemical data on noncollagenous proteins, their precise role in vivo, where the whole animal biology comes into play, remains to be determined. Information on the activities and properties of these proteins has been largely deduced from their temporo-spatial pattern of expression and often tested experimentally using in vitro systems in which, at most, few parameters can be evaluated at a time. Gene transfer will be used to create local transgenic conditions in a rat model of intramembranous bone formation and examine the role of specific functional domains of major noncollagenous bone matrix proteins. This approach offers a simple system in which portion and domains of a molecule can be tested for function and therapeutic potential in an environment that reflects the complex nature of the body. Such an approach is less time consuming and costly then creating a knockout