MgcRacGAP restricts active RhoA at the cytokinetic furrow and both RhoA and Rac1 at cell-cell junctions in epithelial cells.

ABSTRACT: Localized activation of Rho GTPases is essential for multiple cellular functions, including cytokinesis and formation and maintenance of cell-cell junctions. Although MgcRacGAP (Mgc) is required for spatially confined RhoA-GTP at the equatorial cortex of dividing cells, both the target specificity of Mgc's GAP activity and the involvement of phosphorylation of Mgc at Ser-386 are controversial. In addition, Mgc's function at cell-cell junctions remains unclear. Here, using gastrula-stage Xenopus laevis embryos as a model system, we examine Mgc's role in regulating localized RhoA-GTP and Rac1-GTP in the intact vertebrate epithelium. We show that Mgc's GAP activity spatially restricts accumulation of both RhoA-GTP and Rac1-GTP in epithelial cells--RhoA at the cleavage furrow and RhoA and Rac1

SUBMITTER: Breznau EB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4571299 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature