Rab GTPases serve as master regulators of vesicular membrane transport on both the exo- and endocytic pathways. In their active forms, rab proteins serve in cargo selection and as scaffolds for the sequential assembly of effectors requisite for vesicle budding, cytoskeletal transport, and target membrane fusion. Rab protein function is in turn tightly regulated at the level of protein expressio...

Rab proteins comprise a family of small GTPases that serve a regulatory role in membrane traffic. These proteins are in part cytosolic and in part associated with the membranes of specific exocytic and endocytic organelles. Smg p25A/rab3A GDI, a cytosolic protein which inhibits the dissociation of GDP from smg p25A/rab3A, Sec4p, and rab11, has also been found to prevent association of rab3A wit...

Several of the most important discoveries in the field of membrane traffic have come from studies of Rab GTPases by Marino Zerial and Peter Novick and their colleagues. Zerial was the first to discover that Rab GTPases represent identity markers for different membrane-bound compartments, and each Rab organizes a collection of specific effectors into function-specifying membrane microdomains to ...

Intracellular membrane trafficking requires correct and specific localization of Rab GTPases. The hypervariable C-terminal domain (HVD) of Rabs is posttranslationally modified by isoprenyl moieties that enable membrane association. A model asserting HVD-directed targeting has been contested in previous studies, but the role of the Rab HVD and the mechanism of Rab membrane targeting remain elusi...

Rab escort proteins (REP) 1 and 2 are closely related mammalian proteins required for prenylation of newly synthesized Rab GTPases by the cytosolic heterodimeric Rab geranylgeranyl transferase II complex (RabGG transferase). REP1 in mammalian cells is the product of the choroideremia gene (CHM). CHM/REP1 deficiency in inherited disease leads to degeneration of retinal pigmented epithelium and l...

A complex endomembrane system is one of the hallmarks of Eukaryotes. Vesicle trafficking between compartments is controlled by a diverse protein repertoire, including Rab GTPases. These small GTP-binding proteins contribute identity and specificity to the system, and by working as molecular switches, trigger multiple events in vesicle budding, transport, and fusion. A diverse collection of Rab ...

Rab GTPases require special machinery for protein prenylation, which include Rab escort protein (REP) and Rab geranylgeranyl transferase (RGGT). The current model of Rab geranylgeranylation proposes that REP binds Rab and presents it to RGGT. After geranylgeranylation of Rab C-terminal cysteines, REP delivers the prenylated protein to membranes. The REP-like protein Rab GDP dissociation inhibit...

Although concentrated soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptors (SNAREs) drive liposome fusion and lysis, the fusion of intracellular membranes also requires Rab GTPases, Rab effectors, SM proteins, and specific regulatory lipids and is accompanied by little or no lysis. To rationalize these findings, we generated yeast strains that overexpress all four vacuolar SNA...