Figure 1
From: Genomic approaches to identifying transcriptional regulators of osteoblast differentiation
Transcriptional control of osteoblastogenesis. The transcription factors RUNX2, OSX, MSX2, DLX5 and DLX6 play critical roles in coordinating the differentiation from a mesenchymal progenitor cell into a fully differentiated osteoblast. On the basis of the changes in relative abundance of mRNAs and the occurrence of mutants with phenotypes that affect bone formation, a family of zinc-finger proteins (ZFPs) and the factors SHOX2, IRX2A, POU2F1, SOX-4, SOX-22 and DGSI are new likely candidates to be modulators of the progression through the osteoblast lineage from mesenchymal progenitor cells, although the precise step(s) at which they act is not currently known. See text for further details.