Mathews L S, Vale W W
Clayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology, Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037.
Receptor. 1993 Fall;3(3):173-81.
Activins are multifunctional proteins with effects on a broad spectrum of cells and tissues. They are structurally related to a large family of growth and differentiation factors that includes the inhibins, the transforming growth factors b (TGFb), the bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP), Mullerian inhibitory substance, and a number of gene products that control the development of Drosophila and Xenopus. Although the cellular signaling mechanisms of these factors remain unclear, cDNAs encoding cell surface receptors for activin have been cloned. Those receptors are transmembrane serine kinases, suggesting a novel form of signaling. Overexpression of activin receptors in Xenopus embryos indicates that these molecules are functionally involved in the transmission of the activin signal.
激活素是多功能蛋白质，对广泛的细胞和组织具有作用。它们在结构上与一大类生长和分化因子相关，这包括抑制素、转化生长因子β（TGFβ）、骨形态发生蛋白（BMP）、苗勒管抑制物质，以及许多控制果蝇和非洲爪蟾发育的基因产物。尽管这些因子的细胞信号传导机制仍不清楚，但编码激活素细胞表面受体的cDNA已被克隆。那些受体是跨膜丝氨酸激酶，提示了一种新的信号传导形式。激活素受体在非洲爪蟾胚胎中的过表达表明这些分子在功能上参与激活素信号的传递。
