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Updated: Jun 8, 2025

Affinity Precipitation of Active Rho-GEFs Using a GST-tagged Mutant Rho Protein GST-RhoAG17A from Epithelial Cell Lysates
Published on: March 31, 2012
An evolutionary perspective on Arf family GTPases
Catherine L Jackson1, Julie Ménétrey2, Mandeep Sivia3
1Université Paris Cité, CNRS, Institut Jacques Monod, F-75013 Paris, France.
Abstract:
The Arf family GTPases are regulators of eukaryotic cellular organization, functioning in the secretory and endocytic pathways, in cilia and flagella, in cytoskeleton dynamics, and in lipid metabolism. We describe the evolution of this protein family and its well-studied regulators. The last eukaryotic common ancestor had fifteen members, and the current complement of Arf GTPases has been sculpted by gene loss and gene duplications since that point. Some Arf family GTPases (such as those that recruit vesicle coats in the secretory pathway) are present in virtually all eukaryotes, whereas others (such as those functioning in cilia/flagella) have a more limited distribution. A challenge for the future is understanding the full spectrum of Arf family functions throughout eukaryotes.
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