The organic material of our teeth consists of collagens and a number of calcium-binding phosphoproteins. Six of these phosphoproteins have recently been grouped in the family of the SIBLINGs (small integrin-binding ligand, N-linked glycoproteins), namely osteopontin, bone sialoprotein, dentin matrix protein (DMP1), dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP), matrix extracellular phosphoglycoprotein (MEP...

BACKGROUND Amelogenins are the major components of enamel matrix proteins. Enamel matrix derivatives (EMD) can be used in periodontal diseases to regenerate periodontal tissues. The main aim of this study was to evaluate expression of full-length functional recombinant human amelogenin (rhAm) in Iranian lizard Leishmania (I.L.L.) as an alternative eukaryotic expression system. METHODS Human c...

We have previously identified amelotin (AMTN) as a novel protein expressed predominantly during the late stages of dental enamel formation, but its role during amelogenesis remains to be determined. In this study we generated transgenic mice that produce AMTN under the amelogenin (Amel) gene promoter to study the effect of AMTN overexpression on enamel formation in vivo. The specific overexpres...

Research on enamel matrix proteins (EMPs) is centered on understanding their role in enamel biomineralization and their bioactivity for tissue engineering. While therapeutic application of EMPs has been widely documented, their expression and biological function in non-enamel tissues is unclear. Our first aim was to screen for amelogenin (AMELX) and ameloblastin (AMBN) gene expression in mandib...

From the ‡Center for Craniofacial Molecular Biology and **Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90033 and ¶Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Michigan 48109-0622, USA. Running Title: Mouse amelogenin gene regulation §Address correspondence to: Malcolm L. Snead, CSA 142,...

We have developed a vectorette PCR approach to provide an improved method for isolation of microsatellite repeats. The modified procedure relies on PCR amplification using a vectorette-specific primer in combination with one of a panel of anchored dinucleotide repeat primers. The target DNA to be screened for microsatellite sequences can be from YAC, P1, cosmid, bacteriophage or plasmid clones....