The hedgehog (Hh) pathway is a paracrine cell–cell communicaion system discovered in Drosophila over thirty years ago and then tudied for its central role in development in both vertebrates and nvertebrates. Hh was later implicated in other processes, includng adult stem cell maintenance, cell migration, axon guidance and ancer, in a wide range of organisms. Its identification as an oncoenic dr...

The Drosophila genes dally and dally-like encode glypicans, which are heparan sulphate proteoglycans anchored to the cell membrane by a glycosylphosphatidylinositol link. Genetic studies have implicated Dally and Dally-like in Wingless signalling in embryos and imaginal discs. Here, we test the signalling properties of these molecules in the embryonic epidermis. We demonstrate that RNA interfer...

The Hedgehog signaling pathway plays an essential role in the pattern formation and development of metazoan animals. Misregulation of Hedgehog signaling has also been associated with the formation of multiple types of cancer. For these reasons, the Hedgehog pathway has attracted considerable interest. Many proteins required in the Hedgehog pathway have been identified, and while much has been l...

Hedgehog signaling, mediated through its Patched-Smoothened receptor complex, is essential for pattern formation in animal development. Activating mutations within Smoothened have been associated with basal cell carcinoma, suggesting that smoothened is a protooncogene. Thus, regulation of Smoothened levels might be critical for normal development. We show that Smoothened protein levels in Droso...

Secreted signaling proteins of the Hedgehog family organize spatial pattern during animal development. Two integral membrane proteins have been identified with distinct roles in Hedgehog signaling. Patched functions in Hedgehog binding, and Smoothened functions in transducing the signal. Current models view Patched and Smoothened as a preformed receptor complex that is activated by Hedgehog bin...

Hedgehog and WNT signaling pathways network together during embryogenesis and carcinogenesis. Hedgehog signaling in intestinal epithelium represses canonical WNT signaling to restrict expression of WNT target genes to stem or progenitor cells; however, the mechanism remains unclear. The Hedgehog signal is transduced to GLI family transcription factors though Patched receptor, Smoothened signal ...

During Drosophila eye development, cell differentiation is preceded by the formation of a morphogenetic furrow, which progresses across the epithelium from posterior to anterior. Cells within the morphogenetic furrow are apically constricted and shortened along their apical-basal axis. However, how these cell shape changes and, thus, the progression of the morphogenetic furrow are controlled is...