Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

PAK promotes morphological changes by acting upstream of Rac

A Obermeier1, S Ahmed, E Manser

  • 1Glaxo-IMCB Group, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Singapore.

The EMBO Journal
|August 4, 1998
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Hip joint function and reconstruction of the anterior femoral offset in patients with short stem vs. conventional THA.

Scientific reports·2023
Same author

Novel method for reduction of virus load in blood plasma by sonication.

European journal of medical research·2020
Same author

A retrospective clinical and microbial analysis of 32 patients with bilomas.

BMC gastroenterology·2019
Same author

Osteoinduction and -conduction through absorbable bone substitute materials based on calcium sulfate: in vivo biological behavior in a rabbit model.

Journal of materials science. Materials in medicine·2018
Same author

Antimicrobial Formulations of Absorbable Bone Substitute Materials as Drug Carriers Based on Calcium Sulfate.

Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy·2016
Same author

Precision Measurement of the Helium Flux in Primary Cosmic Rays of Rigidities 1.9 GV to 3 TV with the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer on the International Space Station.

Physical review letters·2015
Same journal

Scalable phosphotyrosine enrichment with SH2 superbinder enables deep profiling of EGF responses.

The EMBO journal·2026
Same journal

Essential nucleus-apical pole linkage maintains division fidelity during Plasmodium progeny formation.

The EMBO journal·2026
Same journal

From cell atlases to mechanisms: bridging scRNA-seq discovery with in vivo genetics.

The EMBO journal·2026
Same journal

Mitochondrial calcium regulates lipid metabolism by modulating tethering of mitochondria to lipid droplets.

The EMBO journal·2026
Same journal

Chromosome condensation mechanically primes the nucleus for mitosis.

The EMBO journal·2026
Same journal

NDR kinase SAX-1 controls dendrite branch-specific elimination during neuronal remodeling in C. elegans.

The EMBO journal·2026
See all related articles

The serine/threonine kinase p21-activated kinase (PAK) acts upstream of Rac to promote cell shape changes. PAK

Area of Science:

  • Cell Biology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • The serine/threonine kinase p21-activated kinase (PAK) is a downstream effector of small GTPases Rac and Cdc42.
  • While Rac and Cdc42 induce morphological changes, PAK's specific role remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of PAK in mediating Rac-induced cellular morphology.
  • To elucidate the specific domains and interactions of PAK involved in lamellipodia formation.

Main Methods:

  • Overexpression of betaPAK and its mutants in PC12 cells.
  • Utilizing dominant-negative RacN17 to inhibit Rac activity.
  • Employing a specific N-terminal PAK fragment to block PAK-PIX interaction.

Main Results:

Related Experiment Videos

  • Overexpression of betaPAK induced a Rac phenotype, including cell spreading and lamellipodia formation.
  • These effects were independent of PAK's kinase and p21-binding domains.
  • Lamellipodia formation was inhibited by dominant-negative RacN17 and by blocking PAK-PIX interaction.

Conclusions:

  • PAK acts upstream of Rac to mediate lamellipodia formation.
  • PAK's N-terminal non-catalytic domain is crucial for this interaction with PIX.
  • This pathway highlights a novel mechanism in regulating cell morphology.