Jervine is a steroid

Steroid

A steroid is a type of organic compound that contains a characteristic arrangement of four cycloalkane rings that are joined to each other. Examples of steroids include the dietary fat cholesterol, the sex hormones estradiol and testosterone, and the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone.The core...

al alkaloid

Alkaloid

Alkaloids are a group of naturally occurring chemical compounds that contain mostly basic nitrogen atoms. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Also some synthetic compounds of similar structure are attributed to alkaloids...

 with molecular formula C₂₇H₃₉NO₃ which is derived from the Veratrum

Veratrum

Veratrum is a genus of coarse, highly poisonous perennial herbs of the Melanthiaceae family. In English they are known as the False hellebores or corn lilies. Members of Veratrum are known both in western herbalism and traditional Chinese medicine as toxic herbs to be used with great caution...

plant genus. Similar to cyclopamine

Cyclopamine

Cyclopamine is a naturally occurring chemical that belongs to the group of steroidal jerveratrum alkaloids. It is a teratogen isolated from the corn lily that causes usually fatal birth defects. It can prevent the fetal brain from dividing into two lobes and cause the development of a single eye...

, which also occurs in the Veratrum genus, it is a teratogen implicated in birth defects when consumed by animals during a certain period of their gestation

Gestation

Gestation is the carrying of an embryo or fetus inside a female viviparous animal. Mammals during pregnancy can have one or more gestations at the same time ....

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Physiological effects

Jervine is a potent teratogen causing birth defects in vertebrates. In severe cases it can cause cyclopia

Cyclopia

Cyclopia is a rare form of holoprosencephaly and is a congenital disorder characterized by the failure of the embryonic prosencephalon to properly divide the orbits of the eye into two cavities...

 and holoprosencephaly

Holoprosencephaly

Holoprosencephaly is a cephalic disorder in which the prosencephalon fails to develop into two hemispheres. Normally, the forebrain is formed and the face begins to develop in the fifth and sixth weeks of human pregnancy...

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Mechanism of action

Jervine's biological activity is mediated via its interaction with the 7 pass trans membrane protein smoothened

Smoothened

Smoothened is a G protein-coupled receptor protein encoded by the gene of the hedgehog pathway conserved from flies to humans. It is the molecular target of the teratogen cyclopamine....

. Jervine binds with and inhibits smoothened, which is an integral part of the hedgehog signaling pathway

Hedgehog signaling pathway

In a growing embryo, cells develop differently in the head or tail end of the embryo, the left or right, and other positions. They also form segments which develop into different body parts. The hedgehog signaling pathway gives cells information that they need to make the embryo develop properly....

s. With smoothened inhibited, the GLI1

Gli1

Gli1 is a protein originally isolated in human glioblastoma.-Overview:The Gli proteins are the effectors of Hedgehog signaling and have been shown to be involved in cell fate determination, proliferation and patterning in many cell types and most organs during embryo development.The Gli...

transcription cannot be activated and hedgehog target genes cannot be transcribed.