The many faces of the guanine-nucleotide exchange factor trio.
Small Rho-GTPases are enzymes that are bound to GDP or GTP, which determines their inactive or active state, respectively. The exchange of GDP for GTP is catalyzed by so-called Rho-guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs). Rho-GEFs are characterized by a Dbl-homology (DH) and adjacent Pleckstrin-homology (PH) domain that serves as enzymatic unit for the GDP/GTP exchange. Rho-GEFs show different GTPase specificities, meaning that a particular GEF can activate either multiple GTPases or only one specific GTPase. We recently reported that the Rho-GEF Trio, known to be able to exchange GTP on Rac1, RhoG and RhoA, regulates lamellipodia formation to mediate cell spreading and migration in a Rac1-dependent manner. In this commentary, we review the current knowledge of Trio in several aspects of cell biology.
Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Sanquin Research and Landsteiner Laboratory, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Jos
J
van Rijssel
Jaap D
JD
van Buul
D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D020662:Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D055495:Neurogenesis; D010766:Phosphorylation; D025941:Protein Interaction Mapping; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011554:Pseudopodia / Q000378:metabolism; D020830:rac1 GTP-Binding Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D018909:src Homology Domains
D020662:Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors; C107953:RAC1 protein, human; C503866:KALRN protein, human; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; C099628:TRIO protein, human; D020830:rac1 GTP-Binding Protein