The
Notch signaling pathway is a highly
conserved cell signaling system present in most multicellular organisms. Mammals possess four different
notch receptors, referred to as
NOTCH1,
NOTCH2,
NOTCH3, and
NOTCH4. The notch receptor is a single-pass
transmembrane receptor protein. It is a
hetero-oligomer composed of a large
extracellular portion, which associates in a
calcium-dependent,
non-covalent interaction with a smaller piece of the notch protein composed of a short extracellular region, a single transmembrane-pass, and a small
intracellular region. Notch signaling promotes proliferative signaling during neurogenesis, and its activity is inhibited by
Numb to promote neural differentiation.