QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online January 21, 2009

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Hidden depths to Rap1

As the regulation of changes in cellular behaviour, such as cell adhesion and motility, has an important role in growth, development and tissue homeostasis, there is much interest in identifying the genes that control these processes. One candidate molecule, Rap1, has been implicated in the regulation of adhesion and motility in cell culture, and here, Christopher R. L. Thompson and colleagues (p. 335) analyse its role in multicellular development. They generate a Dictyostelium mutant in which a gene encoding RapGAPB is disrupted, and establish that RapGAPB is required to regulate the levels of Rap1. The authors next show that both normal morphogenesis and the correct patterning of specific subtypes of prestalk cells require expression of rapGAPB and the regulation of Rap1 activity. How does Rap1 exert its effects? By comparing the adhesive properties of prestalk and prespore cells in the wild-type and mutant structures, the authors demonstrate aberrant cell adhesion in rapGAPB-null mutant cells. These results establish a role for Rap1 in regulating differential cell adhesion, cell-type-specific patterning and morphogenesis in Dictyostelium, and, furthermore, define a system in which to study the cell and developmental biology of Rap1 regulation and its role in cell adhesion and pattern formation.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

Related articles in JCS:

Regulation of Rap1 activity is required for differential adhesion, cell-type patterning and morphogenesis in Dictyostelium

Katie Parkinson, Parvin Bolourani, David Traynor, Nicola L. Aldren, Robert R. Kay, Gerald Weeks, and Christopher R. L. Thompson
JCS 2009 122: 335-344. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?