Recombinant human BMP-4 protein (Qk038)

BMP-4 is a TGF-beta family protein essential for development, particularly eye, heart and cranial formation. It is also essential in many stem cell and organoid differentiation media related to mesodermal lineage.

BMP-4 is expressed by a wide range of cells and tissues through the body and expression and effect on different tissues varies dependent on the developmental stage. BMP-4 is particularly expressed by endothelial cells, mesenchymal cells, epithelial cells and adipocytes.

Yes, BMP-4 is a TGF-beta family cytokine.

BMP4 gene encodes the bone morphogenetic protein-4 a secreted protein essential for heart development and adipogenesis.

BMPs induce specific cellular responses through their interaction with type I and type II cell surface receptors, which activates the serine/threonine kinase activity of the receptors 5. Three distinct BMP type II receptors (BMPRIIs) and four BMP type I receptors (BMPRIs), also termed activin receptor‐like kinases (ALKs), have been characterized. BMP-2 and BMP-4 bind most strongly to ALK3 and ALK6.

The activated type I receptor phosphorylates and activates receptor-regulated Smads (R-SMADs), which are SMAD1, SMAD5, and SMAD8 proteins. BMP-4 can also activate the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, in addition to the Smad pathway.

BMP-4 activates the Smad and MAPK pathways to effect transcription of target genes.

BMP pathways are actively regulated by BMP antagonists including chordin, noggin and gremlin, these bind to BMP-4 and prevent it from binding to its receptors.

BMP-4 is widely used in stem cell and organoid differentiation protocols as well as the study of body patterning and development.

TGF beta family proteins and other growth factors can be very poorly soluble in physiological solutions.  Please follow the handling guidance for lyophilized cytokines below to minimize loss of protein due to precipitation or adsorption to plastic.  We advise storing the recombinant protein at very low pH before dilution in cell culture media or final working solutions. Low pH will also assist in maintaining the correct disulfide structure of the protein by minimizing disulfide bond exchange reactions.

• Resuspension in physiological buffers may cause precipitation of stock solutions, hence we recommend dissolving our lyophilized cytokines in 10 mM HCl (1:1000 dilution of concentrated HCl) while keeping the protein concentration at 50 µg/ml or above, in order to avoid loss by adsorption to plasticware.
• To ensure you recover all of the protein, let the sample sit for a few minutes with the solubilization buffer at room temperature and pipette gently up and down (avoid foaming).
• Rinse the tube with some more 10 mM HCl and pool with the rest.
• The protein is tolerant of some freeze and thaw cycles, but as always with proteins, it is better to aliquot and store frozen.
• Our proteins are supplied carrier-protein free.  If compatible with your work, add carrier protein of your choice such as BSA, HSA or gelatin to further minimize loss by adsorption.
• Store in -80°C for long term storage. -20°C for short-term.

Every effort is made to ensure samples are sterile; however, we recommend sterile filtering after dilution in media or the final working solution.