Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), which are members of the superfamily of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), are known both in vitro and in vivo for their osteoinduction properties on the osteoblastic cells. Its role in the mollusk shell formation has also been gradually established. Using Haliotis diversicolor as a model, we characterized the HdBMP2/4 gene in the mantle tissue and showed its expression in the outer fold epithelium (particularly at the periostracal groove) the epithelial site which is involved in shell formation, both prismatic and nacreous layers. Shell notching experiments following gene analysis by qPCR revealed the upregulation of the HdBMP2/4 gene up to 3.2-fold than that of the control animals. In vitro treatments of the preosteoblastic cells, MC3T3-E1 with HdBMP2/4 synthetic peptide demonstrated the enhanced effect of many osteogenic genes that are known to regulate bone and shell biomineralization including ALP, Runx2, and OCN with 2–4 fold-change throughout 14 days of culture. In addition, the increased deposition of calcium-based mineral (as assessed by Alizarin red staining) of the treated cells was comparable to the ascorbic acid (Vit C) + glycerophosphate positive control which revealed the enhanced effect of HdBMP2/4 peptide on matrix biomineralization of the preosteoblastic cells. In conclusion, these results indicated the presence of the HdBMP2/4 gene in the mantle tissue at the site involved in shell formation and the effect of the HdBMP2/4 knuckle epitope peptide in osteoinduction in vitro.

骨形态发生蛋白 (BMP) 是转化生长因子-β (TGF-β) 超家族的成员，因其对成骨细胞的骨诱导特性而在体外和体内均已知。它在软体动物壳形成中的作用也逐渐确立。使用九孔为模型，我们的特点HdBMP2 / 4基因在外套膜和显示了它的表达在所述外折上皮（特别是在periostracal槽），其涉及在壳形成，这两个棱镜和珠光层上皮位点。通过 qPCR 进行基因分析后的壳刻痕实验揭示了HdBMP2/4的上调基因高达对照动物的 3.2 倍。在前成骨细胞的体外治疗中，MC3T3-E1 与Hd BMP2/4 合成肽证明了许多已知调节骨和壳生物矿化的成骨基因的增强作用，包括 ALP、Runx2 和 OCN，整个过程中有 2-4 倍的变化培养14天。此外，处理细胞的钙基矿物质沉积增加（通过茜素红染色评估）与抗坏血酸 (Vit C) + 甘油磷酸阳性对照相当，这表明Hd BMP2/4 肽对基质的作用增强前成骨细胞的生物矿化。总之，这些结果表明存在HdBMP2/4地幔组织中与壳形成有关的位点的基因和Hd BMP2/4 关节表位肽在体外骨诱导中的作用。