Elsevier

Developmental Biology

Volume 239, Issue 1, 1 November 2001, Pages 1-14
Developmental Biology

Review
Intracellular BMP Signaling Regulation in Vertebrates: Pathway or Network?

https://doi.org/10.1006/dbio.2001.0388Get rights and content
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Abstract

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), members of the TGF-β superfamily of secreted signaling molecules, have important functions in many biological contexts. They bind to specific serine/threonine kinase receptors, which transduce the signal to the nucleus through Smad proteins. The question of how BMPs can have such diverse effects while using the same canonical Smad pathway has recently come closer to an answer at the molecular level. Nuclear cofactors have been identified that cooperate with the Smads in regulating specific target genes depending on the cellular context. In addition, the pivotal role BMP signaling plays is underscored by the identification of factors that regulate members of this pathway at the cell surface, in the cytoplasm, and in the nucleus. Many of these factors are BMP-inducible and inhibit the BMP pathway, thus establishing negative feedback loops. Members of the BMP–Smad pathway can also physically interact with components of other signaling pathways to establish crosstalk. Finally, there is accumulating evidence that an alternative pathway involving MAP kinases can transduce BMP signals. The evidence and implications of these findings are discussed with an emphasis on early embryonic development of Xenopus and vertebrates.

Keywords

TGF-β
Smad
signal transduction
MAP kinase
Ca2+/calmodulin
JAK–STAT
Wnt
Xenopus

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