Ameloblastin, also known as amelin, is a gene-specific protein found in tooth

Tooth

Teeth are small, calcified, whitish structures found in the jaws of many vertebrates that are used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores, also use teeth for hunting or for defensive purposes. The roots of teeth are embedded in the Mandible bone or the Maxillary bone and are...

 enamel

Tooth enamel

Tooth enamel, along with dentin, cementum, and dental pulp is one of the four major tissues that make up the tooth in vertebrates. It is the hardest and most highly mineralized substance in the human body. Tooth enamel is also found in the dermal denticles of sharks...

. Although less than 5% of enamel consists of protein, ameloblastins comprise 5%-10% of all enamel protein. This protein is formed by ameloblast

Ameloblast

Ameloblasts are cells, present only during tooth development, that deposit tooth enamel, the hard outermost layer of the tooth that forms the chewing surface....

s during the early secretory to late maturation stages of amelogenesis

Amelogenesis

Amelogenesis is the formation of enamel on teeth and occurs during the crown stage of tooth development after dentinogenesis, which is the formation of dentine. Although dentine must be present for enamel to be formed, it is also true that ameloblasts must be present in order for dentinogenesis to...

. Although not completely understood, the function of ameloblastins is believed to be in controlling the elongation of enamel crystals and generally directing enamel mineralization during tooth development

Tooth development

Tooth development or odontogenesis is the complex process by which teeth form from embryonic cells, grow, and erupt into the mouth. Although many diverse species have teeth, non-human tooth development is largely the same as in humans...

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Other significant proteins in enamel are amelogenin

Amelogenin

Amelogenin is a protein found in developing tooth enamel, and it belongs to a family of extracellular matrix proteins. Developing enamel contains about 30% protein, and 90% of this is amelogenins...

s, enamelin

Enamelin

Enamelin was described in older literature as an EDTA soluble enamel protein. It accounts for the organic portion of enamel, which represents 4% of enamel's mass. It turned out in recent research to be albumin derived from blood contamination....

s, and tuftelin

Tuftelin

Tuftelin is an acidic phosphorylated glycoprotein found in tooth enamel. In humans, the Tuftelin protein is encoded by the TUFT1 gene.- Function :This protein is formed for a short time during amelogenesis...

s.