Desert Hedgehog (Dhh) belongs to the highly conserved Hedgehog family of proteins which are involved in multiple developmental processes. DHH is a secreted, 45 kDa, 373 amino acid (aa) protein that undergoes autocatalytic cleavage between Gly198 and Cys199 catalyzed by the C-terminal domain, which releases the N-terminal domain with a concominant attachment of cholesterol at its new C-terminus. In addition to the C-terminally attached cholesterol, a fatty acid acyl chain is esterified to the N-terminal cysteine (aa 23) via an amide linkage.