Background Bone and cartilage are essential skeletal tissues, which not only function as structural basis of locomotive organs, but also regulate calcium homeostasis, phosphate metabolism, hematopoiesis, and glucose turnover. Several hormones and cytokines in cooperation with their downstream transcription factors regulate bone and cartilage development
therefore, it is important to understand the precise mechanisms of this regulation. Highlight Genetic studies in human and mouse have provided a wealth of information regarding the transcription factors implicated in bone and cartilage development. Moreover, innovative molecular cloning techniques identified several new transcription factors that play indispensable roles in controlling the development of bone and cartilage. The mechanisms controlling the expression of these transcription factors have been meticulously elucidated, so that the transcriptional network system, which seemed so complex and mysterious not so long ago, has become considerably clearer in recent years. Conclusion Recent advances in our knowledge about transcriptional network systems contributed to understanding the molecular underpinnings of regulation and pathological disease mechanisms in bone and cartilage.