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Cross-talk between Rac and Rap GTPases in migrating cells.

Ricarda Lüttig1,2, Suchet Nanda1,2, Haritha T Chandran1,2

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Rap GTPase activates Rac GTPase, coordinating cell protrusion and attachment for effective cell migration. This unidirectional crosstalk mechanism highlights Rap

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Area of Science:

  • Cell Biology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Biochemistry

Background:

  • Cell migration requires coordinated cell protrusion and attachment.
  • Small GTPases Rac and Rap are key regulators of these processes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Investigate spatio-temporal activity patterns of Rac and Rap in migrating cells.
  • Elucidate the crosstalk between Rap and Rac in regulating cell protrusion and adhesion.

Main Methods:

  • Live-cell imaging of spatio-temporal activity patterns.
  • Light-based perturbation methods to analyze crosstalk.
  • Rap1 depletion experiments in A431 cells.

Main Results:

  • Rac activity tightly correlates with cell protrusion events.
  • Rap activity precedes and follows protrusion, remaining elevated.
  • Rap activates Rac, but not vice versa.
  • Rap1 depletion reduces cell attachment.

Conclusions:

  • Rap plays an instructive role in cell protrusion by activating Rac.
  • Prolonged Rap activity may stabilize protrusions.
  • Rap-stimulated cell adhesion stabilizes newly formed protrusions.
  • A unidirectional crosstalk mechanism couples cell protrusion and adhesion via Rap and Rac.