title: Stuck in the middle: Rac, adhesion, and cytokinesis.
abstract: Rho family small GTPases (Rac, RhoA, and Cdc42) function at the core of cytokinesis, the physical division of one cell into two. In this issue, Bastos et al. (2012. J. Cell Biol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201204107) identify a new role for Rac inhibition: to release cell adhesion at the division plane and allow efficient constriction of the contractile ring. They show that the GTPase-activating protein, CYK4, suppresses equatorial cell substrate adhesion by inhibiting Rac and therefore its effectors ARFGEF7 and PAK1/2.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: Julie C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Canman
mesh_terms: D048749:Cytokinesis / Q000502:physiology*; D020690:GTPase-Activating Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D020662:Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D064067:Rho Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors; D054462:p21-Activated Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D020830:rac1 GTP-Binding Protein / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D020690:GTPase-Activating Proteins; D020662:Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors; C107953:RAC1 protein, human; D064067:Rho Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors; C115995:mgcRacGAP; C515903:PAK1 protein, human; D054462:p21-Activated Kinases; D020830:rac1 GTP-Binding Protein