Tectonic 2 (TCTN2)

Tectonic 2 (TCTN2) belongs to the tectonic family. Reiter and Skarnes (2006) identified a novel gene that they named tectonic, after the Greek work for builder, due to its apparent involvement in a diverse range of developmental processes. Database analysis indicated that tectonic is the founding member of a family of evolutionarily conserved secreted and transmembrane proteins. In mouse embryos, tectonic was expressed in regions that participate in hedgehog signaling. It was first expressed during gastrulation stages in the ventral node. At embryonic day 9.5, it was expressed in the gut endoderm, limb buds, notochord, somites, neural tube, and floorplate.Reiter and Skarnes (2006) found that mouse tectonic modulated hedgehog signaling downstream of smoothened (SMOH;) and Rab23 and was required for maximal hedgehog activation.