Cloning, characterization, and tissue expression pattern of mouse Nma/BAMBI during odontogenesis

Degenerate oligonucleotides to consensus serine kinase functional domains previously identified a novel, partial rabbit tooth cDNA (Zeichner-David et al., 1992) that was used in this study to identify a full-length mouse clone. A 1390-base-pair cDNA clone was isolated encoding a putative 260-amino-acid open reading frame containing a hydrophobic 25-amino-acid potential transmembrane domain. This clone shares some homology with the TGF-β type I receptor family, but lacks the intracellular kinase domain. DNA database analysis revealed that this clone has 86% identity to a newly isolated human gene termed non-metastatic gene A and 80% identity to a Xenopus cDNA clone termed BMP and activin membrane bound inhibitor. Here we report the mouse Nma/BAMBI cDNA sequence, the tissue expression pattern, and confirmed expression in dental cell lines. This study demonstrates that Nma/BAMBI is a highly conserved protein across species and is expressed at high levels during odontogenesis.