Publication Date:
2001-08-04
Description:
One of the most dominant influences in the patterning of multicellular embryos is exerted by the Hedgehog (Hh) family of secreted signaling proteins. Here, we identify a segment polarity gene in Drosophila melanogaster, skinny hedgehog (ski), and show that its product is required in Hh-expressing cells for production of appropriate signaling activity in embryos and in the imaginal precursors of adult tissues. The ski gene encodes an apparent acyltransferase, and we provide genetic and biochemical evidence that Hh proteins from ski mutant cells retain carboxyl-terminal cholesterol modification but lack amino-terminal palmitate modification. Our results suggest that ski encodes an enzyme that acts within the secretory pathway to catalyze amino-terminal palmitoylation of Hh, and further demonstrate that this lipid modification is required for the embryonic and larval patterning activities of the Hh signal.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Chamoun, Z -- Mann, R K -- Nellen, D -- von Kessler, D P -- Bellotto, M -- Beachy, P A -- Basler, K -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2001 Sep 14;293(5537):2080-4. Epub 2001 Aug 2.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Institut fur Molekularbiologie and Zoologisches Institut, Universitat Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11486055" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Acylation
;
Acyltransferases/chemistry/*genetics/*metabolism
;
Amino Acid Sequence
;
Amino Acid Substitution
;
Animals
;
Body Patterning
;
Cholesterol/metabolism
;
*Drosophila Proteins
;
Drosophila melanogaster/embryology/*genetics/growth & development/metabolism
;
Gene Expression
;
Genes, Insect
;
Hedgehog Proteins
;
Insect Proteins/chemistry/genetics/*metabolism
;
Molecular Sequence Data
;
Mutation
;
Palmitic Acid/*metabolism
;
Protein Structure, Tertiary
;
*Signal Transduction
;
Transgenes
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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