CDNA CLONING AND GENOMIC STRUCTURE OF HUMAN BONE MORPHOGENETIC PROTEIN-3B (BMP-3B)

BMP-3b (also termed GDF-10) is a novel BMP-3 related protein recently discovered in rat femur tissue by molecular cloning. In this paper, we have isolated cDNA and the gene for human BMP-3b and determined their structure. Cloned human BMP-3b cDNA with a size of 2632 base pairs en codes a 478 amino acid precursor protein sharing 83% identity with rat BMP-3b. The human BMP-3b gene is composed of 3 exons and spans approx imately 13 kilobases of DNA. The 5'-flanking region carries no typical TATA box but G+C rich sequences. Southern blot analysis revealed that the BMP-3b gene is situated in a single locus of chromosome 10. By No rthern analysis, human BMP-3b transcripts were detected primarily in f emur, brain, lung, skeletal muscle, pancreas and testis. (C) 1996 Acad emic Press, Inc.