title: Role of Rho GTPases and Rho-GEFs in the regulation of cell shape and integrity in fission yeast.
abstract: The Rho family of GTPases are highly conserved molecular switches that control some of the most fundamental processes of cell biology, including morphogenesis, vesicular transport, cell division and motility. Guanine nucleotide-exchange factors (GEFs) are directly responsible for the activation of Rho-family GTPases in response to extracellular stimuli. In fission yeast, there are seven Dbl-related GEFs and they activate six Rho-type GTPases within a particular spatio-temporal context. The failure to do so might have consequences reflected in aberrant phenotypes and in some cases lead to cell death. In this review, we briefly summarize the role of Rho GTPases and Rho-GEFs in the establishment and maintenance of cell polarity and cell integrity in Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Microbiología Bioquímica, CSIC/Universidad de Salamanca and Departamento de Microbiología y Genética, Universidad de Salamanca, Campus Miguel de Unamuno, 37007 Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: García
authors.forename: Virginia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tajadura
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: García
authors.forename: Yolanda
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sánchez
mesh_terms: D016764:Cell Polarity / Q000502:physiology; D020662:Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors / Q000502:physiology*; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000502:physiology; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000166:cytology* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism*; D020741:rho GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D020662:Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors; D020741:rho GTP-Binding Proteins