protéine Smoothened

CONT: Le signal Hedgehog et sa pathologie. Le précurseur de Sonic Hedgehog subit une maturation autoprotéolytique par liaison au cholestérol. La partie amino-terminale de Sonic Hedgehog se fixe au récepteur «patched» complexé à la protéine Smoothened.

CONT: The protein Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) controls patterning growth during vertebrate development. Here we demonstrate that it binds Patched (vPtc), which has been identified as a tumour-suppressor protein in basal cell carcinoma, with high affinity. We show that Ptc can form a physical complex with w newly cloned vertebrate homologue of the Drosophila protein Smoothened (vSmo), and that vSmo is coexpressed with vPtc in many tissues but does not bind Shh directly.
CONT: Sequence analysis of the smoothened transcription reveals a single open reading frame encoding a protein with seven putative transmembrane domains. This structure is typical of G-protein-coupled receptors, suggesting that the Smoothened protein may act as a receptor for the Hegdgehog ligand.
CONT: The Drosophila smoothened gene encodes a seven-pass membrane protein, a putative receptor for the Hedgehog signal.