A new member of the Rho family, Rnd1, promotes disassembly of actin filament structures and loss of cell adhesion.
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Nobes CD, Lauritzen I, Mattei MG, Paris S, Hall A, Chardin P
A new member of the Rho family, Rnd1, promotes disassembly of actin filament structures and loss of cell adhesion.
J Cell Biol. 1998 Apr 6;141(1):187-97.
- PubMed ID
- 9531558 [ View in PubMed]
- Abstract
Members of the Rho GTPase family regulate the organization of the actin cytoskeleton in response to extracellular growth factors. We have identified three proteins that form a distinct branch of the Rho family: Rnd1, expressed mostly in brain and liver; Rnd2, highly expressed in testis; and Rnd3/RhoE, showing a ubiquitous low expression. At the subcellular level, Rnd1 is concentrated at adherens junctions both in confluent fibroblasts and in epithelial cells. Rnd1 has a low affinity for GDP and spontaneously exchanges nucleotide rapidly in a physiological buffer. Furthermore, Rnd1 lacks intrinsic GTPase activity suggesting that in vivo, it might be constitutively in a GTP-bound form. Expression of Rnd1 or Rnd3/RhoE in fibroblasts inhibits the formation of actin stress fibers, membrane ruffles, and integrin-based focal adhesions and induces loss of cell-substrate adhesion leading to cell rounding (hence Rnd for "round"). We suggest that these proteins control rearrangements of the actin cytoskeleton and changes in cell adhesion.