Shaping skeletal growth by modular regulatory elements in the Bmp5 gene.

ABSTRACT: Cartilage and bone are formed into a remarkable range of shapes and sizes that underlie many anatomical adaptations to different lifestyles in vertebrates. Although the morphological blueprints for individual cartilage and bony structures must somehow be encoded in the genome, we currently know little about the detailed genomic mechanisms that direct precise growth patterns for particular bones. We have carried out large-scale enhancer surveys to identify the regulatory architecture controlling developmental expression of the mouse Bmp5 gene, which encodes a secreted signaling molecule required for normal morphology of specific skeletal features. Although Bmp5 is expressed in many skeletal precursors, different enhancers control expression in individual bones. Remarkably, we show here that

SUBMITTER: Guenther C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2592695 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature