Lecture 12 Flashcards
Which family are the vertebrate homologues of the Ci transcription factor
Gli family proteins
Phosphatases are involved in both hedgehog and wnt signalling pathways, T or F
F – kinases are involved in both
What three cancers are directly caused by ectopic hedgehog signalling
Basal cell carcinoma, medullablastoma and rhabdomyosarcoma
Excess activation of smoothened caused by an insensitivity to ptc1 inhibition can cause cancer, thus what type of gene is smo
Proto-oncogene
What is the significance of the non-canonical hedgehog signalling in adipocytes/myocytes in tumorigenesis
Aerobic glycolysis is a feature of many tumour cells and is known as the Warburg effect
What was seen in hh mutant Drosophila embryos
Defects in segmentation. The segments contained a lawn of denticles and no naked cuticles
What is Niemann-Pick Disease and how is this related to ptc
NP disease is caused by a mutation in the niemann pick protein C1 and is a lipid storage disorder that leads to the accumulation of harmful quantities of lipids in the visceral organs and brain. Ptc contains regions homologous to the structure of NPC indicating its potentially similar roles
Explain the hypothesised action of Ptc on small molecules in order to exerts its inhibitory effect on Smo
Ptc either pumps a small inhibitory molecule into cells or a small excitatory molecule out. Or Ptc may pump a small molecule into or out of the cells that effects Smo trafficking or localisation in the membrane
Explain the signal transduction mechanism at high levels of hedgehog ligand
Hedgehog acts through both the CKI/GSK3?/PKA and Cos2/Ci/Fused/SuFu complex by leading to phosphorylation of full-length CiA and/or SuFu. This prevents partial degradation of CiA and allows its translocation to the nucleus in its activator form. Thus, resulting in the promotion of hedgehog target gene transcription.
Both wnt and hh signalling use scaffold proteins, recall the proteins involved in each signalling pathway
Wnt signalling – uses axin. Hedgehog signalling – uses costal2
Give an example of a positive feedback mechanism involved in hedgehog signalling
Gli1 is a downstream target gene of hedgehog signalling. Gli1 was is a constitutive activator of hedgehog gene expression leading to a feedforward response and subsequent increase in hedgehog signalling
What happens when hedgehog binds to its ptc receptor
Leads to an inhibition of the inhibitory action of the ptc receptor
What type of protein is slimb referred to as
F box domain containing protein
What type of gene is hedgehog
Segment polarity gene
In absence of the ligands in both wnt and hedgehog signalling there is transcriptional repression. Which transcription factors mediate this in each pathway
Transcriptional repression is mediate by groucho/TCF in wnt signalling whereas in hedgehog signalling this is carried out by Ci-75/CiR
Discuss the genetic conservation of the hh signalling pathway
Hh signalling is relatively conserved amongst metazoans and kingdom Animalia however not to the extent that wnt signalling is. For example C.elegans lacks hh signalling mechanisms
Inactivation of ptc1 or SuFu can cause cancers, what type of genes are these
Tumour suppressor genes
A single ptc receptor inhibits a single smo receptor, T or F
F – a single patched molecule can inhibit the activity of several smo receptors
What is the significance of the N-terminal signal sequence of the hedgehog ligand when first synthesised
It targets the protein to the secretory pathway
What are the two effects of ptc1 induction by hedgehog
Suppression of the intracellular signalling within the cell and restricting further diffusion of the hedgehog ligand by receptor binding. The latter acts to steepen the gradient of hedgehog expression
Explain the negative feedback mechanism mediated by hedgehog interacting protein
Hedgehog binding signalling leads to hedgehog interacting protein induction. This acts to limit diffusion of the ligand and the level of subsequent signalling by the downregulation of hedgehog signalling stimulators CDO, BOC and GAS1
Cleavage of the N-terminal part of the hedgehog protein is coupled to a cholesterol molecule addition. This occurs as well as palmitoylation. What are the combined effects of these modifications and the effects on the signalling pathway
Addition of these groups makes the hedgehog protein very hydrophobic. This renders the molecule insoluble in water and acts to target its localisation to the membrane. In addition, it makes hedgehog unable to leave the membrane and hence restricts it to signalling only to neighbouring cells
Explain how cilia are involved in mammalian hedgehog signalling
In the absence of the hedgehog ligand, ptc1 is localised to the primary cilium of the cell and smo is excluded from this region. Hedgehog binding to ptc causes its removal from the cilium which allows smo to accumulate there and initiate signalling
By explaining its homology to other similar proteins, describe to evidence for ptc action as a pump
Ptc has homology to RND permeases which pump out toxins and are involved in multi-drug resistance. Ptc also has homology with NPC1 which can transport some molecules across membranes as well as move cholesterol containing vesicles.