title: The dynamics of spatio-temporal Rho GTPase signaling: formation of signaling patterns.
abstract: Rho GTPases are crucial signaling molecules that regulate a plethora of biological functions. Traditional biochemical, cell biological, and genetic approaches have founded the basis of Rho GTPase biology. The development of biosensors then allowed measuring Rho GTPase activity with unprecedented spatio-temporal resolution. This revealed that Rho GTPase activity fluctuates on time and length scales of tens of seconds and micrometers, respectively. In this review, we describe Rho GTPase activity patterns observed in different cell systems. We then discuss the growing body of evidence that upstream regulators such as guanine nucleotide exchange factors and GTPase-activating proteins shape these patterns by precisely controlling the spatio-temporal flux of Rho GTPase activity. Finally, we comment on additional mechanisms that might feed into the regulation of these signaling patterns and on novel technologies required to dissect this spatio-temporal complexity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Rafael Dominik
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Fritz
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Institute of Cell Biology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Pertz
keywords: GTPase-activating proteins; Guanine nucleotide exchange factors; Rho GTPase; signalling patterns; spatio-temporal control