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Sonic Hedgehog (Shh)

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Encyclopedia of Signaling Molecules

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Historical Background

The Hedgehog (Hh) family of secreted proteins plays an essential role in metazoan development, and defects in the Hh pathway lead to congenital abnormalities such as holoprosencephaly and certain forms of cancer. The importance of Hh during embryogenesis was first discovered in a genetic screen for mutations disrupting larval patterning in Drosophila melanogaster by Nusslein-Volhard and Wieschaus in 1980 (Varjosalo and Taipale 2008). Unlike Drosophila, which harbors a single Hh gene, the mammalian genome encodes three Hh ligands: Dessert Hedgehog (Dhh), Indian Hedgehog (Ihh), and Sonic Hedgehog (Shh), all of which activate the vertebrate Hh pathway in a similar manner. Shh is the most widely expressed of these ligands, and much of what is known about vertebrate Hh signaling stems from studies on Shh. Though similar in many ways to the DrosophilaHh pathway, several features of vertebrate Hh signaling make it unique. Perhaps the most striking divergence is in the...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, 37323, USA

    Kaitlyn Ryan & Chin Chiang

Authors
  1. Kaitlyn Ryan
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  2. Chin Chiang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kaitlyn Ryan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Science and Technology, Ajou University, Suwon, Korea

    Sangdun Choi

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Ryan, K., Chiang, C. (2018). Sonic Hedgehog (Shh). In: Choi, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Signaling Molecules. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67199-4_102

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