Mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 9 also known as SMAD9, SMAD8, and MADH6 is a protein that in humans is enocoded by the SMAD9 gene.
SMAD9, as its name describes, is a homolog of the Drosophila gene: "Mothers against decapentaplegic". It belongs to the SMAD family of proteins, which belong to the TGFβ superfamily of modulators. Like many other TGFβ family members, SMAD9 is involved in cell signalling. When a bone morphogenetic protein binds to a receptor (BMP type 1 receptor kinase) it causes SMAD9 to interact with SMAD anchor for receptor activation (SARA).The binding of ligands causes the phosphorylation of the SMAD9 protein and the dissociation from SARA and the association with SMAD4. It is subsequently transferred to the nucleus where it forms complexes with other proteins and acts as a transcription factor. SMAD9 is a receptor regulated SMAD (R-SMAD) and is activated by bone morphogenetic protein type 1 receptor kinase. There are two isoforms of the protein. Confusingly, it is also sometimes referred to as SMAD8 in the literature.
Read more about Mothers Against Decapentaplegic Homolog 9: Nomenclature
Famous quotes containing the word mothers:
“Most people agree that men have trouble showing hurt, jealousy, and fear but even mothers, whose wider emotional range is often taken for granted, also seem more comfortable with anger than these other “unparentlike” feelings. This is probably because several generations of mothers have now been twelve-step-programmed and pop-psychologized enough to believe that expressing hurt, fear, anxiety, or dependence will create pathological guilt in their kids.”
—Ron Taffel (20th century)