dictyNews
Electronic Edition
Volume 36, number 15
June 3, 2011

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Abstracts
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The LRRK2-related Roco kinase Roco2 is regulated by Rab1A and 
controls the actin cytoskeleton 

Sebastien Kicka, Zhouxin Shen, Sarah J. Annesley, Paul R. Fisher, 
Susan Lee, Steven Briggs and Richard A. Firtel


Mol. Biol Cell, in press

We identify a new pathway that is required for proper pseudopod formation. 
We show that Roco2, an LRRK2-related Roco kinase, is activated in response 
to chemoattractant stimulation and helps mediate cell polarization and 
chemotaxis by regulating cortical F-actin polymerization and pseudopod 
extension in a pathway that requires Rab1A. We found that Roco2 binds 
the small GTPase Rab1A as well as the F-actin crosslinking protein filamin 
(actin-binding protein 120, abp120) in vivo. We show that active Rab1A 
(Rab1A-GTP) is required for and regulates Roco2 kinase activity in vivo, 
and that filamin lies downstream from Roco2 to control pseudopod extension 
during chemotaxis and random cell motility. Therefore, our study uncovered 
a new signaling pathway that involves Rab1A and controls the actin 
cytoskeleton and pseudopod extension, and thereby, cell polarity and motility. 
These findings may have also implications in the regulation of other Roco 
kinases, including possibly LRRK2, in metazoans.


Submitted by Rick Firtel [[log in to unmask]]
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[End dictyNews, volume 36, number 15]