Cloning and characterization of ARHGAP12, a novel human rhoGAP gene

Rho GTPase activating proteins (GAPs) stimulate the intrinsic GTP hydrolysis activity of Rho family proteins. Here we report the cloning of two splice variants of a novel gene named ARHGAP12 (access number), which has an ORF of 2541bp. Profilescan search result showed that its putative protein contains five domains: rhoGAP, SH3, PH and two WW domains. ARHGAP12 is located in chromosome 10pter-cen and consists of 20 exons according to the Blastn result against high throughput genomic sequences (htgs). Reverse transcription PCR and Northern blot indicates that it ubiquitously expresses in human tissues as well as tumor cell lines, suggesting its basic roles in cells.