title: Secretion and localized transcription suggest a role in positional signaling for products of the segmentation gene hedgehog.
abstract: The segment polarity genes engrailed and wingless are expressed in neighboring stripes of cells on opposite sides of the Drosophila parasegment boundary. Each gene is mutually required for maintenance of the other's expression; continued expression of both also requires several other segment polarity genes. We show here that one such gene, hedgehog, encodes a protein targeted to the secretory pathway and is expressed coincidently with engrailed in embryos and in imaginal discs; maintenance of the hedgehog expression pattern is itself dependent upon other segment polarity genes including engrailed and wingless. Expression of hedgehog thus functions in, and is sensitive to, positional signaling. These properties are consistent with the non-cell autonomous requirement for hedgehog in cuticular patterning and in maintenance of wingless expression.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: von Kessler
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Parks
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Beachy
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D017344:Genes, Insect; D053823:Hedgehog Proteins; D007814:Larva / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D053823:Hedgehog Proteins; D011506:Proteins; C077245:hh protein, Drosophila