In mammals, the most important may be the Sonichedgehoggene, named after the Sega videogame character by scientists in the Harvard laboratory of Clifford Tabin in 1993.
Cyclopamine, it turns out, blocks the function of a gene called Sonichedgehog that is essential for embryonic development but also plays a lead role in causing deadly cancers of the pancreas, skin, prostate and esophagus.