Bone morphogenetic protein 8A (BMP8A) is a protein

Protein

Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...

 that in humans is encoded by the BMP8A gene

Gene

A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...

.

BMP8A is a polypeptide member of the TGFβ superfamily of proteins. It, like other bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), is involved in the development of bone and cartilage. BMP8A may be involved in epithelial osteogenesis. It also plays a role in bone homeostasis

Homeostasis

Homeostasis is the property of a system that regulates its internal environment and tends to maintain a stable, constant condition of properties like temperature or pH...

. It is a disulfide

Disulfide

In chemistry, a disulfide usually refers to the structural unit composed of a linked pair of sulfur atoms. Disulfide usually refer to a chemical compound that contains a disulfide bond, such as diphenyl disulfide, C6H5S-SC6H5....

-linked homodimer.

Further reading