Skeletal progenitor cells differentiate into cartilage cells when one master gene actually suppresses the action of another, said Baylor College of Medicine researchers in a report that appears online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Skeletons are made of bone and cartilage cells that are differentiated from the same multipotent stem cell, said Dr. Brendan Lee, associate professor of molecular and human genetics at BCM, director of the Skeletal Dysplasia Clinic at Texas Children's Hospital and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. This same stem cell gives rise to bone, cartilage, fat and fibroblasts. "The big question is what are the master genes that make a stem cell go one way versus another," said Lee. Both SOX9 and RUNX2 are master transcription factors involved in the process of differentiating bone and cartilage. The master protein SOX9 directs skeletal progenitor cells to become cartilage and …

Last Modified: Monday, November 27th, 2006 @ 05:00

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