Proteins of the Hedgehog, Wnt and Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) ligand families are secreted signals that induce concentration-dependent responses in surrounding cells. Although these proteins must diffuse through the aqueous extracellular environment, recent work has shown that hydrophobic lipid modifications are essential for their functions. All three classes of ligands are palmito...

Ci/Gli zinc finger proteins mediate the transcriptional effects of Hedgehog protein signals. In Drosophila, Ci action as transcriptional repressor or activator is contingent upon Hedgehog-regulated, PKA-dependent proteolytic processing. We demonstrate that PKA-dependent processing of vertebrate Gli3 in developing limb similarly generates a potent repressor in a manner antagonized by apparent lo...

The past decade has seen a revolution in our understanding of the molecular basis of embryonic development in higher organisms. As our understanding of vertebrate development has grown, a number of completely unanticipated and truly remarkable parallels between mechanisms of patterning in vertebrates and Drosophila have been revealed (Scott, 1994). These findings suggest that the wealth of gene...

Recent discoveries of several new, cryptic bat species in Europe, and the growing importance of bat conservation have resulted in an increased research effort to study roost site selection, habitat use and spacing/foraging behaviour of (rare) bat species (Arlettaz, 1999; Mayer and von Helversen, 2001; Mickleburgh et al., 2002; Di Salvo et al., 2009; Whitaker and Karataş, 2009). In fact, before ...