Bone morphogenetic proteins in the early development of zebrafish.

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are known to be widely involved in various biological processes. Many of the members of the BMP family, as well as related factors, receptors and molecules in the BMP signaling pathway, have been isolated, but their precise functions are still unclear. In addition to the 'classical' model organism Xenopus, zebrafish, Danio rerio, is now considered to be a suitable model organism to study the roles of the BMP signaling pathway during embryogenesis. Mutagenesis screens have identified a number of mutants in the pathway. Although they do not cover the entire members of the BMP signaling cascade that are currently known, they serve as a powerful tool to broaden our understanding of BMP functions, in combination with other experimental techniques.