Mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 5
Encyclopedia
Mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 5 also known as SMAD5 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...

 that in humans is encoded by the SAMD5 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...

.

SMAD5, as its name describes, is a homolog of the Drosophila
Drosophila
Drosophila is a genus of small flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "fruit flies" or more appropriately pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species to linger around overripe or rotting fruit...

 gene: "Mothers against decapentaplegic
Mothers against decapentaplegic
Mothers against decapentaplegic is a protein from the SMAD family that was discovered in Drosophila.The SMAD proteins are homologs of both the Drosophila protein "mothers against decapentaplegic" and the C. elegans protein SMA. The name is a combination of the two...

". It belongs to the SMAD
SMAD (protein)
SMADs are intracellular proteins that transduce extracellular signals from transforming growth factor beta ligands to the nucleus where they activate downstream TGF-β gene transcription....

 family of proteins, which belong to the TGFβ superfamily of modulators. Like many other TGFβ family members SMAD5 is involved in cell signalling and modulates signals of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP's). The binding of ligands causes the oligomerization and phosphorylation
Phosphorylation
Phosphorylation is the addition of a phosphate group to a protein or other organic molecule. Phosphorylation activates or deactivates many protein enzymes....

 of the SMAD5 protein. SMAD5 is a receptor regulated SMAD
R-SMAD
R-SMAD stands for receptor-regulated SMAD. Smads are transcription factors that transduce extracellular TGF-ß superfamily ligand signaling from cell membrane bound TGF-ß receptors into the nucleus where they activate transcription TGF-ß target genes...

 (R-SMAD
R-SMAD
R-SMAD stands for receptor-regulated SMAD. Smads are transcription factors that transduce extracellular TGF-ß superfamily ligand signaling from cell membrane bound TGF-ß receptors into the nucleus where they activate transcription TGF-ß target genes...

) and is activated by bone morphogenetic protein type 1 receptor kinase. It may play a role in the pathway where TGFβ is an inhibitor of hematopoietic progenitor cells.
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