Rab GTPases and membrane identity: Causal or inconsequential?

Rab GTPases and membrane identity: Causal or inconsequential?

Rab GTPases are highly conserved components of vesicle trafficking pathways that help to ensure the fusion of a vesicle with a specific target organelle membrane. Specific regulatory pathways promote kinetic proofreading of membrane surfaces by Rab GTPases, and permit accumulation of active Rabs only at the required sites. Emerging evidence indicates that Rab activation and inactivation are und...

Selective membrane recruitment of Rab GTPases.

Role of Rab GTPases in membrane traffic and cell physiology.

Intracellular membrane traffic defines a complex network of pathways that connects many of the membrane-bound organelles of eukaryotic cells. Although each pathway is governed by its own set of factors, they all contain Rab GTPases that serve as master regulators. In this review, we discuss how Rabs can regulate virtually all steps of membrane traffic from the formation of the transport vesicle...

The role of ARF and Rab GTPases in membrane transport.

Two key events of intracellular transport and membrane trafficking in eukaryotic cells, the formation of transport vesicles and their specific delivery to target membranes, are controlled by small GTPases of the ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF) and Rab families, respectively. The past 18 months have seen the identification of proteins that regulate ARF and Rab GDP/GTP cycle, as well as the charact...

Structural mechanisms for regulation of membrane traffic by rab GTPases.

In all eukaryotic organisms, Rab GTPases function as critical regulators of membrane traffic, organelle biogenesis and maturation, and related cellular processes. The numerous Rab proteins have distinctive yet overlapping subcellular distributions throughout the endomembrane system. Intensive investigation has clarified the underlying molecular and structural mechanisms for several ubiquitous R...