First published online November 7, 2006
Development 133, 2303e (2006)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
Skeletons reveal that chondrocyte differentiation needs BMPs
Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signalling is an essential regulator of
chondrogenesis. But although in vitro studies have shown that BMPs promote
proliferation in cartilage growth plates, whether they inhibit or stimulate
chondrocyte differentiation has remained unclear. Now, Karen Lyons and
colleagues report that antagonistic BMP and FGF signalling controls the
progression of chondrocytes through the growth plate in vivo (see
p. 4667). The
researchers characterized the skeletal phenotypes of
Bmpr1aCKO mice (which lack BMP receptor type IA in
chondrocytes) and double Bmpr1aCKO;
Bmpr1b+/- mice (which also lack one BMP receptor type IB
gene in their chondrocytes). From these studies, the authors discovered that
BMP signalling is essential for multiple aspects of chondrogenesis, including
proliferation and the completion of differentiation, and that it both promotes
the expression of Indian hedgehog (which co-ordinates chondrocyte
proliferation and differentiation) and inhibits FGF signalling (which
negatively regulates these processes). Together, these results greatly clarify
the complex role that BMP signalling plays in chondrogenesis in vivo.
Related articles in Development:
- BMPs regulate multiple aspects of growth-plate chondrogenesis through opposing actions on FGF pathways
- Byeong S. Yoon, Robert Pogue, Dmitri A. Ovchinnikov, Isaac Yoshii, Yuji Mishina, Richard R. Behringer, and Karen M. Lyons
Development 2006 133: 4667-4678.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
