Patent ID: 6942988

Claim:
A method for identifying a compound that modulates a cellular response mediated by a hedgehog protein comprising: (a) incubating the compound with a neural plate cell expressing a hedgehog protein consisting essentially of SEQ ID NO:1 having an amino terminal residue corresponding to any one of residues 26 through 35 of SEQ ID NO:1, and a patched receptor under conditions sufficient to permit the compound to interact with the patched receptor or the hedgehog protein; and (b) comparing differentiation of the neural plate cell into a floor plate cell in the cell incubated with the compound with differentiation of a neural plate cell into a floor plate cell of a cell not incubated with the compound, wherein a difference in differentiation between the cell incubated with the compound and the cell not incubated with the compound is indicative of a compound that modulates a cellular response mediated by the hedgehog protein.