Human Noggin

Noggin is a secreted homodimeric glycoprotein, whose Noggin cDNA encodes a 232 amino acid (aa) precursor protein; cleavage of a 19 aa signal peptide generates the 213 aa mature protein. Noggin binds some BMPs such as BMP-4 with high affinity and others such as BMP-7 with lower affinity. Noggin is expressed in defined areas of the adult central nervous system and peripheral tissues such as lung, skeletal muscle and skin. Noggin also appears to maintain adult stem cell populations in-vivo, for example, maintaining neural stem cells within the hippocampus _1-5_.