Cholesterol activates the G-protein coupled receptor Smoothened to promote morphogenetic signaling
Giovanni Luchetti, Ria Sircar, Jennifer H Kong, Sigrid Nachtergaele, Andreas Sagner, Eamon FX Byrne, Douglas F Covey, Christian Siebold, Rajat Rohatgi
The paper shows cholesterol directly activates the GPCR Smoothened to drive Hedgehog signaling by binding its extracellular domain, independent of traditional GPCR mechanisms.
eLife · Oct 5, 2016Peer-reviewedDevelopmental Biology