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Letter

Nature Genetics 38, 1424–1429 (1 December 2006) | doi:10.1038/ng1916

BMP2 activity, although dispensable for bone formation, is required for the initiation of fracture healing

Kunikazu Tsuji , Amitabha Bandyopadhyay , Brian D Harfe , Karen Cox , Sanjeev Kakar , Louis Gerstenfeld , Thomas Einhorn , Clifford J Tabin & Vicki Rosen

Adult bones have a notable regenerative capacity. Over 40 years ago, an intrinsic activity capable of initiating this reparative response was found to reside within bone itself, and the term bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) was coined to describe the molecules responsible for it.