Patched (Ptc) is a conserved 12-pass transmembrane protein receptor that plays an obligate negative regulatory role in the

Hedgehog signaling pathway The Hedgehog signaling pathway is a signaling pathway that transmits information to embryonic cells required for proper cell differentiation. Different parts of the embryo have different concentrations of hedgehog signaling proteins. The pathwa ...

in insects and vertebrates. Patched is an essential gene in

embryogenesis An embryo ( ) is the initial stage of development for a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male ...

for proper segmentation in the fly

embryo An embryo ( ) is the initial stage of development for a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sp ...

, mutations in which may be embryonic lethal. Patched functions as the receptor for the Hedgehog protein and controls its spatial distribution, in part via endocytosis of bound Hedgehog protein, which is then targeted for lysosomal degradation.

Discovery

The original mutations in the ''ptc'' gene were discovered in the fruit fly ''

Drosophila melanogaster ''Drosophila melanogaster'' is a species of fly (an insect of the Order (biology), order Diptera) in the family Drosophilidae. The species is often referred to as the fruit fly or lesser fruit fly, or less commonly the "vinegar fly", "pomace fly" ...

'' by 1995 Nobel Laureates Eric F. Wieschaus and Christiane Nusslein-Volhard and colleagues, and the gene was independently cloned in 1989 by Joan Hooper in the laboratory of Matthew P. Scott, and by Philip Ingham and colleagues.

Role in hedgehog signaling

Patched is part of a

negative feedback Negative feedback (or balancing feedback) occurs when some function (Mathematics), function of the output of a system, process, or mechanism is feedback, fed back in a manner that tends to reduce the fluctuations in the output, whether caused ...

mechanism for hedgehog signaling that helps shape the spatial gradient of signaling activity across tissues. In the absence of hedgehog, low levels of patched are sufficient to suppress activity of the signal transduction pathway. When hedgehog is present, its

cholesterol Cholesterol is the principal sterol of all higher animals, distributed in body Tissue (biology), tissues, especially the brain and spinal cord, and in Animal fat, animal fats and oils. Cholesterol is biosynthesis, biosynthesized by all anima ...

moiety binds to the sterol-sensing domain in patched, which then inhibits the activity of smoothened. Smoothened is a

G protein-coupled receptor G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), also known as seven-(pass)-transmembrane domain receptors, 7TM receptors, heptahelical receptors, serpentine receptors, and G protein-linked receptors (GPLR), form a large group of evolutionarily related ...

, most of which is stored in membrane bound vesicles internally within the cell and which increases at the cell surface when hedgehog is present. Smoothened must be present on the

cell membrane The cell membrane (also known as the plasma membrane or cytoplasmic membrane, and historically referred to as the plasmalemma) is a biological membrane that separates and protects the interior of a cell from the outside environment (the extr ...

in order for the Hedgehog signaling pathway to be activated. Among other genes, the transcription of the patched gene is induced by hedgehog signaling, with the accumulation of the patched protein limiting signaling through the Smoothened protein. Recent work implicates the cilium in intracellular trafficking of hedgehog signaling components in vertebrate cells.

Role in disease

Mutated patched proteins have been implicated in a number of cancers including basal cell carcinoma, medulloblastoma, and rhabdomyosarcoma. Hereditary

mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, ...

s in the human patched homolog '' PTCH1'' cause autosomal dominant Gorlin syndrome, which consists of overgrowth and hereditary disposition to cancer including basal cell carcinoma and medulloblastoma. Mice with mutations in mouse ''PTCH1'' similarly develop medulloblastoma.

References

{{reflist Hedgehog signaling pathway Human proteins Histopathology Developmental genes and proteins