We work on the molecular biology of pattern formation in Hydra, and I am
wondering whether we should try to isolate a homologue of hedgehog from Hydra.
The hedgehog signalling system (particularly its apparent autoproteolytic
activation) seems an attractive one for explaining some of the patterning
phenomena one sees in Hydra. So I would like to know if anyone is aware of a
hedgehog gene in C. elegans. The availability of sequence data from a worm
hedgehog gene would be of great help in designing PCR primers. In the 1994
Development paper (v. 120, pp. 3339-3353) by Chang et al. it is stated that
primers that work for insects, annelids, and vertebrates yielded nothing with C.
elegans. Is that the current state of affairs?
Rob Steele
Associate Professor
Department of Biological Chemistry
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92717-1700
office phone: 714-824-7341
lab phone: 714-824-4343
fax: 714-824-2688
Internet e-mail: resteele at uci.edu
