In the 1970s, a gene related to how our brain grows our limbs was given the name “hedgehog” in relation to the spiky appearance of fruit flies with a defective version of the gene.In 1995, three strains of the “hedgehog” gene were found and named “Desert-Hedgehog”, “Indian-Hedgehog”, and amusingly, “Sonic-Hedgehog”.onic Hedgehog Homolog (SHH) is one of three proteins in the mammalian hedgehog family, the others being desert hedgehog (DHH) and Indian hedgehog (IHH). SHH is the best studied ligand of the hedgehog signaling pathway.