Reactome | Hedgehog ligand biogenesis

Hedgehog ligand biogenesis

Stable Identifier

R-HSA-5358346

DOI

10.3180/REACT_228111.1

Type

Pathway

Species

Homo sapiens

ReviewStatus

5/5

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Mammalian genomes encode three Hedgehog ligands, Sonic Hedgehog (SHH), Indian Hedgehog (IHH) and Desert Hedgehog (DHH). These secreted morphogens can remain associated with lipid rafts on the surface of the secreting cell and affect developmental processes in adjacent cells. Alternatively, they can be released by proteolysis or packaging into vesicles or lipoprotein particles and dispersed to act on distant cells. SHH activity is required for organization of the limb bud, notochord and neural plate, IHH regulates bone and cartilage development and is partially redundant with SHH, and DHH contributes to germ cell development in the testis and formation of the peripheral nerve sheath (reviewed in Pan et al, 2013).

Despite divergent biological roles, all Hh ligands are subject to proteolytic processing and lipid modification during transit to the surface of the secreting cell (reviewed in Gallet, 2011). Precursor Hh undergoes autoproteolytic cleavage mediated by the C-terminal region to yield an amino-terminal peptide Hh-Np (also referred to as Hh-N) (Chen et al, 2011). No other well defined role for the C-terminal region of Hh has been identified, and the secreted Hh-Np is responsible for all Hh signaling activity. Hh-Np is modified with cholesterol and palmitic acid during transit through the secretory system, and both modifications contribute to the activity of the ligand (Porter et al, 1996; Pepinsky et al, 1998; Chamoun et al, 2001).

At the cell surface, Hh-Np remains associated with the secreting cell membrane by virtue of its lipid modifications, which promote clustering of Hh-Np into lipid rafts (Callejo et al, 2006; Peters et al, 2004). Long range dispersal of Hh-Np depends on the untethering of the ligand from the membrane through a variety of mechanisms. These include release of monomers through the combined activity of the transmembrane protein Dispatched (DISP2) and the secreted protein SCUBE2, assembly into soluble multimers or apolipoprotein particles or release on the surface of exovesicles (Vyas et al, 2008; Tukachinsky et al, 2012; Chen 2004; Zeng et al, 2001; reviewed in Briscoe and Therond, 2013).

Literature References

PubMed ID	Title	Journal	Year
16396909	Hedgehog lipid modifications are required for Hedgehog stabilization in the extracellular matrix Guerrero, I, Torroja, C, Quijada, L, Callejo, A	Development	2006
8824192	Cholesterol modification of hedgehog signaling proteins in animal development Beachy, PA, Porter, JA, Young, KE	Science	1996
18585355	Nanoscale organization of hedgehog is essential for long-range signaling Mayor, S, Vyas, N, Goswami, D, Manonmani, A, Sowdhamini, R, VijayRaghavan, K, Ranganath, HA, Sharma, P, Shashidhara, LS	Cell	2008
21257310	Hedgehog morphogen: from secretion to reception Gallet, A	Trends Cell Biol.	2011
22902404	Dispatched and scube mediate the efficient secretion of the cholesterol-modified hedgehog ligand Jao, CY, Liu, J, Kuzmickas, RP, Salic, A, Tukachinsky, H	Cell Rep	2012
11395778	A freely diffusible form of Sonic hedgehog mediates long-range signalling Robbins, DJ, Schreiner, CM, Scott WJ, Jr, Zeng, X, Suber, LM, Goetz, JA	Nature	2001
15163793	The cholesterol membrane anchor of the Hedgehog protein confers stable membrane association to lipid-modified proteins Peters, C, Kuhlmann, J, Wolf, A, Waldmann, H, Wagner, M	Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.	2004
23719536	The mechanisms of Hedgehog signalling and its roles in development and disease Thérond, PP, Briscoe, J	Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol.	2013
11486055	Skinny hedgehog, an acyltransferase required for palmitoylation and activity of the hedgehog signal Beachy, PA, Bellotto, M, Nellen, D, Chamoun, Z, von Kessler, DP, Mann, RK, Basler, K	Science	2001
23565096	A review of hedgehog signaling in cranial bone development James, AW, Chang, L, Pan, A, Nguyen, A	Front Physiol	2013
15075292	Palmitoylation is required for the production of a soluble multimeric Hedgehog protein complex and long-range signaling in vertebrates Li, YJ, Xu, SM, Chuang, PT, Kawakami, T, Chen, MH	Genes Dev.	2004
21357747	Processing and turnover of the Hedgehog protein in the endoplasmic reticulum Jao, C, Rapoport, TA, Tang, HY, Chu, YR, Schulman, S, Huang, CH, Chen, X, Salic, A, Mueller, B, Tukachinsky, H	J. Cell Biol.	2011
9593755	Identification of a palmitic acid-modified form of human Sonic hedgehog Pepinsky, RB, Galdes, A, Williams, KP, Garber, EA, Wen, D, Wang, EA, Bixler, SA, Miatkowski, K, Rayhorn, P, Taylor, FR, Ambrose, CM, Zeng, C, Baker, DP	J. Biol. Chem.	1998