May have a dual function during osteoblast differentiation. In the nucleus of undifferentiated osteoblasts, unphosphorylated form acts as a transcriptional component for activation of osteoblast- specific genes like osteocalcin. During the osteoblast to osteocyte transition phase it is phosphorylated and exported into the extracellular matrix, where it regulates nucleation of hydroxyapatite. . This is the function of DMP1 (dentin matrix acidic phosphoprotein 1, Ensembl gene identifier ENSG00000152592).