Recombinant Human Growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF-11) (G586-10ug)

Growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF-11), also known as BMP11, is a member of the TGF-beta superfamily and highly related to GDF-8. The members of this family are regulators of cell growth and differentiation in both embryonic and adult tissues (1). GDF-11 is a secreted signal that acts globally to specify positional identity along the anterior/ posterior axis during development. It can bind the type I TGF-beta superfamily receptors ALK4, ALK5 and ALK7 but predominantly uses ALK4 and ALK5 for signal transduction (1). GDF-11 has been shown to suppress neurogenesis through a myostatin-like pathway, which involves arrest of progenitor cell-cycle in the G1 phase (2). It inhibits the proliferation of olfactory receptor neuron progenitors to regulate the number of olfactory receptor neurons occurring in the olfactory epithelium, and controls the competence of progenitor cells to regulate numbers of retinal ganglionic cells developing in the retina (3-4). Similarities between myostatin and GDF-11, which are 90% identical in their amino acid sequence, suggests that the regulatory mechanisms responsible for maintaining proper tissue size during neural and muscular development might be the same. In mice, GDF-11 is expressed in diverse regions of the embryo and targeted deletion of the protein results in a spectrum of abnormalities (5).