CGC Bibliography Paper 5200

The C. elegans PH domain protein CED-12 regulates cytoskeletal reorganization via a Rho/Rac GTPase signaling pathway.

Zhou Z, Caron E, Hartwieg E, Hall A, Horvitz HR

Medline:

11703939

Citation:

Developmental Cell 1: 477-489 2001

Type:

ARTICLE

Genes:

ced-1 ced-2 ced-5 ced-6 ced-7 ced-10 ced-12 qDf5 qDf7 qDf8 qDf9

Abstract:

The C. elegans gene ced-12 functions in the engulfment of apoptotic cells and in cell migration, acting in a signaling pathway with ced-2 Crkll, ced-5 DOCK180, and ced-10 Rac GTPase and acting upstream of ced-10 Rac. ced-12 encodes a protein with a pleckstrin homology (PH) domain and an SH3 binding motif, both of which are important for ced-12 function. CED-12 acts in engulfing cells for cell corpse engulfment and interacts physically with CED-5, which contains an SH3 domain. CED-12 has Drosophila and human counterparts. Expression of CED-12 and its counterparts in murine Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts induced Rho GTPase-dependent formation of actin filament bundles. We propose that through interactions with membranes and with a CED-2/CED-5 protein complex, CED-12 regulates Rho/Rac GTPase signaling and leads to cytoskeletal reorganization by an evolutionarily conserved mechanism.