• Purity

  >90%, by SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions and visualized by silver stain

• Endotoxin Level

  <0.01 EU per 1 μg of the protein by the LAL method.  

• Activity

  Measured by its ability to inhibit BMP-4-induced activity in MC3T3‑E1 mouse preosteoblast cells. The ED    ₅₀ for this effect is 0.6-3 µg/mL in the presence of 50 ng/mL of Recombinant Human BMP‑4 (Catalog # ).

• Source

  E. coli-derived Arg24-Leu185

• Accession #

• N-terminal Sequence    
  Analysis

  Arg24

• Structure / Form

  Disulfide-linked homodimer

• Predicted Molecular Mass

  17.3 kDa (monomer)

Carrier Free

What does CF mean?

CF stands for Carrier Free (CF). We typically add Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) as a carrier protein to our recombinant proteins. Adding a carrier protein enhances protein stability, increases shelf-life, and allows the recombinant protein to be stored at a more dilute concentration. The carrier free version does not contain BSA.

What formulation is right for me?

In general, we advise purchasing the recombinant protein with BSA for use in cell or tissue culture, or as an ELISA standard. In contrast, the carrier free protein is recommended for applications, in which the presence of BSA could interfere.

Background: COCO

COCO, also known as DAND5, Dante, and CKTSF1B3, is a member of the DAN domain family of BMP antagonists that includes DAN (DAND1), Gremlin/Drm (DAND2), PRDC (Protein Related to Dan and Cerberus; DAND3), and Cerberus (DAND4). DAN family members contain a cysteine knot domain that is homologous to that found in other TGF-beta superfamily ligands such as BMPs that play important roles in tissue morphogenesis and developmental processes (1-6). The mouse COCO cDNA encodes a 185 amino acid (aa) precursor with a 23 aa signal sequence (7, 8). COCO has eight Cys residues in the cysteine knot which places it in the CAN (or eight-membered ring) subfamily of BMP antagonists along with the other DAN family proteins (1). Mature mouse COCO shares 62% and 27% aa sequence identity with human and   Xenopus COCO, respectively. It shares 22%-27% aa sequence identity with mouse DAN, Gremlin, PRDC, and Cerberus. In   Xenopus embryos, COCO is expressed by pluripotent ectodermal cells. Expression is abruptly downregulated prior to gastrulation, and the loss of ectodermal cell pluripotency is coincident with COCO downregulation (7). COCO is required for   Xenopus left-right axis formation (9). It functions predominantly on the right side of the embryo, although it is equally expressed on both left and right sides (9). COCO binds and inhibits activin, BMP-4, GDF-3/derrière, Wnt8, and Xnr1 (7, 9). In mouse, COCO expression is elevated on the right side of Henson’s node at the early somite stage, in contrast to the left side expression of Nodal (8).

• References:

1. Avsian-Kretchmer, O. and A.J.W. Hsueh (2004) Mol. Endocrinol. 18:1.

2. Katoh, M. and M. Katoh (2004) Oncol. Rep. 12:423.

3. Katoh, M. and M. Katoh (2005) Int. J. Mol. Med. 15:885.

4. Baron, M.H. (2005) Exp. Hematol. 33:1015.

5. Kishigami, S. and Y. Mishina (2005) Cytokine Growth Factor Rev. 16:265.

6. De Robertis, E.M. and H. Koruda (2004) Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol. 20:285.

7. Bell, E. et al. (2003) Development 130:1381.

8. Pearce, J.J. et al. (1999) Dev. Biol. 209:98.

9. Vonica, A. and A.H. Brivanlou (2007) Dev. Biol. 303:281.

• Entrez Gene IDs:

  199699 (Human); 23863 (Mouse); 685719 (Rat)

• Alternate Names:

  CER2CRL2; Cerberus 2; Cerberus like-2; cerberus-like 2; Cerberus-like protein 2; CERL2; cerl-2; CKTSF1B3; CKTSF1B3MGC126849; COCO; Cysteine knot superfamily 1, BMP antagonist 3; DAN domain family member 5; DAN domain family, member 5; DAND5; Dante; DTE; FLJ38607; GREM3; GREM3cerberus 2; gremlin-3; SP1