title: Role of RacC for the regulation of WASP and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase during chemotaxis of Dictyostelium.
abstract: WASP family proteins are key players for connecting multiple signaling pathways to F-actin polymerization. To dissect the highly integrated signaling pathways controlling WASP activity, we identified a Rac protein that binds to the GTPase binding domain of WASP. Using two-hybrid and FRET-based functional assays, we identified RacC as a major regulator of WASP. RacC stimulates F-actin assembly in cell-free systems in a WASP-dependent manner. A FRET-based microscopy approach showed local activation of RacC at the leading edge of chemotaxing cells. Cells overexpressing RacC exhibit a significant increase in the level of F-actin polymerization upon cAMP stimulation, which can be blocked by a phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase inhibitor. Membrane translocation of PI 3-kinase and PI 3,4,5-trisphosphate reporter is absent in racC null cells. Cells overexpressing dominant negative RacC mutants and racC null cells move at a significantly slower speed and show a poor directionality during chemotaxis. Our results suggest that RacC plays an important role in PI 3-kinase activation and WASP activation for dynamic regulation of F-actin assembly during Dictyostelium chemotaxis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee 37232-6600, USA.
authors.forename: Ji W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Leeper
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rivero
authors.forename: Chang Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chung
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002633:Chemotaxis / Q000502:physiology*; D004023:Dictyostelium / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D018129:Phosphatidylinositol Phosphates / Q000378:metabolism; D051316:Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Protein / Q000378:metabolism*; D020744:rac GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D018129:Phosphatidylinositol Phosphates; D051316:Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Protein; C060974:phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-triphosphate; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; D020744:rac GTP-Binding Proteins