Hedgehog signaling uses lipid metabolism to tune smoothened activation.
In this issue of Developmental Cell, Yavari et al. reveal that membrane phosphatidylinositol-4 phosphate (PI4P) controls the activation of Hh signal transduction. Their data suggest that Ptc functions directly or indirectly to suppress accumulation of PI4P. Binding of Hh to Ptc derepresses PI4P levels, which in turn promotes Smo activation.
Yang
Yongfei
Y
State Key Laboratory of Biomembrane and Membrane Biotechnology, and Key Laboratory of Stem Cell, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
Lin
Xinhua
X