Title: sonic hedgehog
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - sonic hedgehog
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.11232
Status: current

Definition
Protein morphogen produced in the notochord that plays a critical role in early development, including vertebrate organogenesis, brain development and limb formation.

Note
Production in the embryo is dependent upon secretion of fibroblast growth factors.

Related Terms
- bone morphogenetic protein-4: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/10469
- fibroblast growth factors: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/10720
- morphogen: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/10972
- notochord: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11021
- organogenesis: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11048
- vertebrate: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11367

Source
- PAC, 2016, 88, 713. 'Glossary of terms used in developmental and reproductive toxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2016)' on page 806 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2015-1202)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11232/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11232/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11232/xml

Citation: Citation: 'sonic hedgehog' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.11232
License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-06-30T10:29:16+00:00