Caronte: Proteins and Enzymes

Chicken Caronte, the ortholog of mammalian Cerberus, is a member of the Cerberus/DAN family of secreted glycoproteins that are putative BMP antagonists. There are at least 5 Dan Domain (DAND) family members including DAN (DAND1), Gremlin/Drm (DAND2), PRDC (Protein Related to Dan and Cerberus; DAND3), Cerberus (DAND4), and Coco (DAND5). Caronte is expressed in the left paraxial mesoderm and is the molecule responsible for transducing left-sided positional information from the node to the periphery of the lateral plate mesoderm during chicken embryonic development.