BAMBI
Encyclopedia
BMP and activin membrane-bound inhibitor homolog (Xenopus laevis), also known as BAMBI, is a protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...

 which in humans is encoded by the BAMBI gene
Gene
A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...

.

Function

This gene encodes a transmembrane glycoprotein
Glycoprotein
Glycoproteins are proteins that contain oligosaccharide chains covalently attached to polypeptide side-chains. The carbohydrate is attached to the protein in a cotranslational or posttranslational modification. This process is known as glycosylation. In proteins that have segments extending...

 related to the type I receptors of the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF beta
TGF beta
Transforming growth factor beta is a protein that controls proliferation, cellular differentiation, and other functions in most cells. It plays a role in immunity, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Marfan syndrome, and Loeys–Dietz syndrome....

) family, whose members play important roles in signal transduction
Signal transduction
Signal transduction occurs when an extracellular signaling molecule activates a cell surface receptor. In turn, this receptor alters intracellular molecules creating a response...

in many developmental and pathological processes. The encoded protein however is a pseudoreceptor, lacking an intracellular serine/threonine kinase domain required for signaling. Similar proteins in frog, mouse and zebrafish function as negative regulators of TGF-beta, which has led to the suggestion that the encoded protein may function to limit the signaling range of the TGF-beta family during early embryogenesis.
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