GENOMIC ORGANIZATION AND CHROMOSOMAL LOCATION OF THE MOUSE TYPE-I BMP-2 4 RECEPTOR/

We have characterized the structure of a mouse bone morphogenetic prot ein (BMP) type I receptor gene that can bind both BMP-2 and BMP-4. The mouse BMP-2/4 receptor gene is encoded by 11 exons and spans approxim ately 38-kb. Most of the intron/exon boundaries are not conserved comp ared to the kinase domain of the related, activin type II receptor. In addition, whereas the activin type II receptor gene contains large in trons (>40 kb), the largest intron of the BMP-2/4 receptor gene is onl y 6.4-kb. The BMP-2/4 receptor gene (Bmpr) was mapped to mouse chromos ome 14. Bmpr is closely linked to Rbp3 in the region containing pugnos e, a mutation that alters bone development. Knowledge of the genomic s tructure of Bmpr provides important information to create Bmpr-deficie nt mice. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.