摘要: Extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling is critical to morphogenesis and homeostasis. The identification of inactivating mutations in a gene encoding one its modifying enzymes, metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2), people with hereditary disorder which the bones disintegrate, represents first genetic evidence that proteolysis ECM mediates human growth development. It also underscores need for an intricate balance between breakdown deposition ECM.