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Mol. Cell. Biol., 04 1995, 1942-1952, Vol 15, No. 4
R Kozma, S Ahmed, A Best and L Lim
The Ras-related protein Cdc42 plays a role in yeast cell budding and
polarity. Two related proteins, Rac1 and RhoA, promote formation in
mammalian cells of membrane ruffles and stress fibers, respectively, which
contain actin microfilaments. We now show that microinjection of the
related human Cdc42Hs into Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts induced the formation of
peripheral actin microspikes, determined by staining with phalloidin. A
proportion of these microspikes was found to be components of filopodia, as
analyzed by time-lapse phase-contrast microscopy. The formation of
filopodia was also found to be promoted by Cdc42Hs microinjection. This was
followed by activation of Rac1- mediated membrane ruffling. Treatment with
bradykinin also promoted formation of microspikes and filopodia as well as
subsequent effects similar to that seen upon Cdc42Hs microinjection. These
effects of bradykinin were specifically inhibited by prior microinjection
of dominant negative Cdc42HsT17N, suggesting that bradykinin acts by
activating cellular Cdc42Hs. Since filopodia have been ascribed an
important sensory function in fibroblasts and are required for guidance of
neuronal growth cones, these results indicate that Cdc42Hs plays an
important role in determining mammalian cell morphology.
Copyright © 1995, American Society for Microbiology
The Ras-related protein Cdc42Hs and bradykinin promote formation of peripheral actin microspikes and filopodia in Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts
Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom.
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