2. Academic Validation
  3. Wnt and Hedgehog: Secretion of Lipid-Modified Morphogens

Wnt and Hedgehog: Secretion of Lipid-Modified Morphogens

  • Trends Cell Biol. 2018 Feb;28(2):157-170. doi: 10.1016/j.tcb.2017.10.003.
Anup Parchure 1,  Neha Vyas 2,  Satyajit Mayor 3
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine, Bangalore 560065, India; Current address: Department of Neurobiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655, USA.
  • 2 St John's Research Institute, St John's National Academy of Health Sciences, Bangalore 560034, India. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 3 National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine, Bangalore 560065, India. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 29132729 DOI: 10.1016/j.tcb.2017.10.003
Abstract

Morphogens are signaling molecules produced by a localized source, specifying cell fate in a graded manner. The source secretes morphogens into the extracellular milieu to activate various target genes in an autocrine or paracrine manner. Here we describe various secreted forms of two canonical morphogens, the lipid-anchored Hedgehog (Hh) and Wnts, indicating the involvement of multiple carriers in the transport of these morphogens. These different extracellular secreted forms are likely to have distinct functions. Here we evaluate newly identified mechanisms that morphogens use to traverse the required distance to activate discrete paracrine signaling.

Keywords

Hh; Wg; Wnt; cancer; exosomes; lipoprotein; tissue patterning; vesicles.

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