InterPro domain: IPR003392

This entry includes protein patched (ptc) and protein dispatched (disp) from Drosophila melanogaster, and the Niemann-Pick C1 protein from humans.

Protein patched is a receptor for the morphogene Sonic Hedgehog [ 1 ]. It associates with the smoothened protein to transduce hedgehog signals, leading to the activation of wingless, decapentaplegic and patched itself. It participates in cell interactions that establish pattern within the segment and imaginal disks during development [ 2 ]. The mouse homologue may play a role in epidermal development. The human Niemann-Pick C1 protein, defects in which cause Niemann-Pick type II disease, is also a member of this family. This protein is involved in the intracellular trafficking of cholesterol, and may play a role in vesicular trafficking in glia, a process that may be crucial for maintaining the structural functional integrity of nerve terminals [ 3 ].

Protein dispatched may act by some mechanism to present or release the Hh signal for stimulation of distant target cells [ 4 ].

1. Hedgehog-mediated patterning of the mammalian embryo requires transporter-like function of dispatched. Cell 111, 63-75
2. Cell patterning in the Drosophila segment: engrailed and wingless antigen distributions in segment polarity mutant embryos. Dev. Suppl. , 105-14
3. Structure of N-terminal domain of NPC1 reveals distinct subdomains for binding and transfer of cholesterol. Cell 137, 1213-24