Functional Differentiation of BMP7 Genes in Zebrafish: for Dorsal-Ventral Pattern and for Melanin Synthesis and Eye Development.

Bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP7) belongs to the transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) family, which not only induces cartilage and bone formation, but also regulates eye development and melanoma tumorigenesis in mammals. In teleosts, BMP7 differentiates into two subtypes, and , which have clearly differentiated structures. To fully understand the functional differentiation of and in fish species, we successfully constructed and gene deletion mutants in zebrafish using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing technology.