title: The regulator of G protein signaling family.
abstract: Regulator of G protein signaling (RGS) proteins are responsible for the rapid turnoff of G protein-coupled receptor signaling pathways. The major mechanism whereby RGS proteins negatively regulate G proteins is via the GTPase activating protein activity of their RGS domain. Structural and mutational analyses have characterized the RGS/G alpha interaction in detail, explaining the molecular mechanisms of the GTPase activating protein activity of RGS proteins. More than 20 RGS proteins have been isolated, and there are indications that specific RGS proteins regulate specific G protein-coupled receptor pathways. This specificity is probably created by a combination of cell type-specific expression, tissue distribution, intracellular localization, posttranslational modifications, and domains other than the RGS domain that link them to other signaling pathways. In this review we discuss what has been learned so far about the role of RGS proteins in regulating G protein-coupled receptor signaling and point out areas that may be fruitful for future research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla 92093, USA. ldevries@ucsd.edu, bzheng@ucsd.edu
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Vries
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Elenko
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Farquhar
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000502:physiology; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins