Phylogenetic conservation of the regulatory and functional properties of the Vav oncoprotein family.

ABSTRACT: Vav proteins are phosphorylation-dependent GDP/GTP exchange factors for Rho/Rac GTPases. Despite intense characterization of mammalian Vav proteins both biochemically and genetically, there is little information regarding the conservation of their biological properties in lower organisms. To approach this issue, we have performed a characterization of the regulatory, catalytic, and functional properties of the single Vav family member of Drosophila melanogaster. These analyses have shown that the intramolecular mechanisms controlling the enzyme activity of mammalian Vav proteins are already present in Drosophila, suggesting that such properties have been set up before the divergence between protostomes and deuterostomes during evolution. We also show that Drosophila and mammalian Vav prote

SUBMITTER: Couceiro JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1447607 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature