Linda, daughter Kristen in Tucson
mid 1980s
Hedgehog is
1.
The name
of a cute little animal mainly encountered in British fiction.
2. The name of a gene, necessary for life in all biological symmetrical animals.
3.
The name of a protein coded for by the Hedgehog
gene.
4.
The name for a biological pathway of unexcelled
complication
5.
All of the above.
Zinc is
1
A metal, #30 on the periodic chart
2
Extracted from the mineral sphalerite.
3
A principal component of brass
4
A dietary supplement.
5
Necessary for life
The correct
answers are, of course, 5 in both cases.
So what does
this have to do with anything I should write a blog about? Well, it turns out that zinc acts as a
“regulator” of Hedgehog. When we are
developing – e.g., differentiating from a cellular blob into something with
arms, legs, etc. – we need the Hedgehog signaling pathway to make the proper
biological processes go. However, when
we are fully formed, we need Hedgehog to crawl back into its hole; improperly
activated Hedgehog can lead to autism and several kinds of cancer, including
ovarian. Research performed at Rensselaer University indicates that a zinc
deficiency may be behind some (all?) of Hedgehog-related mistakes.
Research is on-going. Sounds
hopeful.
I wrote
about Hedgehog once before, long ago, when I obviously didn’t know how
important it is:
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