Background
Hedgehog(Hh)proteinsarewidelydistributedthroughouttheanimalkingdomandplayimportantregulatoryrolesinvariousdevelopmentprocesses.ThethreeknownmammalianHhproteins,Sonic(Shh),Desert(Dhh)andIndian(Ihh)arestructurallyrelatedandshareahighdegreeofaminoacidsequenceidentity(e.g.ShhandIhhare93%identical).Although,HhproteinshaveuniqueexpressionpatternsanddistinctBIOLOGicalroleswithintheirrespectiveregionsofsecretion,theysignalthroughthesamePatched(Ptc)/Smoothened(Smo)receptorcomplex,activatethesameintracellularsignalingpathway,andcansubstituteforeachotherinexperimentalsystems.ThematurebiologicallyactiveformofHhmoleculesisproducedbyautocatalyticcleavageoftheirprecursorproteinsandcorrespondstoapproximatelytheN-terminalhalfoftheprecursormolecule.RecombinanthumanShhisa20.6kDaproteinconsistingof174aminoacidresidues,whichcorrespondtotheactiveN-terminalportionoftheShhprecursor.
Specifications