title: Small GTPase Rho5 is a functional homologue of Rho1, which controls cell shape and septation in fission yeast.
abstract: The small GTPase Rho1 plays an essential role in controlling the organization of the actin cytoskeleton and synthesis of the cell wall in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Here we studied the role of Rho5 whose primary structure is very similar to that of Rho1. It was found that elevated expression of Rho5 was able to compensate for the lethality of cells lacking Rho1. Rho5 was localized to the ends of interphase cells and the mid-region of mitotic cells. Overexpression of Rho5 caused depolarization of F-actin patches and abnormal formation of the cell wall, as did Rho1. Although rho5(+) was not essential for maintaining the cell shape, rho1 rho5-double null cells showed more severe defects in cell viability than rho1-null cells. Thus, it is likely that Rho5 has an overlapping function with Rho1 in controlling cell growth and division in S. pombe.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biology, Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan. knakano@biol.tsukuba.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.forename: Ritsuko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Arai
authors.forename: Issei
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mabuchi
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D048430:Cell Shape; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000378:metabolism; D004583:Electrons; D008853:Microscopy; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010641:Phenotype; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000166:cytology* / Q000201:enzymology*; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D020741:rho GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins; C504664:RHO5 protein, S pombe; D020741:rho GTP-Binding Proteins; C511156:rho1 protein, S pombe