REVIEW

Cell Research (2006)16:435-445
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A RHOse by any other name: a comparative analysis of animal and plant Rho GTPases

Tore Brembu, Per Winge, Atle Magnar Bones, Zhenbiao Yang

¹Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, Center for Plant Cell Biology, Institute of Integrative Genome Biology, University of California, Riverside, California 92521, USA; 2Department of Biology, University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway

Correspondence: Zhenbiao Yang1, Atle M Bones2 1Tel: 1-951-827-7351; Fax: 1-951-827-4437; E-mail: yang@ucr.edu 2Tel: 1-47-7359-8692; Fax: 47-7359-6100; E-mail: atle.bones@bio.ntnu.no

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Rho GTPases are molecular switches that act as key regulators of a many cellular processes, including cell movement, morphogenesis, host defense, cell division and gene expression. Rho GTPases are found in all eukaryotic kingdoms. Plants lack clear homologs to conventional Rho GTPases found in yeast and animals; instead, they have over time developed a unique subfamily, ROPs, also known as RAC. The origin of ROP-like proteins appears to precede the appearance of land plants. This review aims to discuss the evolution of ROP/RAC and to compare plant ROP and animal Rho GTPases, focusing on similarities and differences in regulation of the GTPases and their downstream effectors.

Cell Research (2006) 16:435-445. doi:10.1038/sj.cr.7310055; published online 15 May 2006

Keywords: Rho GTPase, RhoGAP, RhoGEF, RhoGDI, cytoskeleton, NADPH oxidase, RIC