Nagoya University · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Professor Kozo Kaibuchi's research lab focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying cytoskeletal dynamics, cell adhesion, and cell motility, with a central emphasis on the Rho family of GTPases and their downstream effectors such as Rho-kinase (ROCK). The lab investigates how these signaling molecules regulate cellular architecture, cell-cell and cell-matrix contacts, and fundamental processes like smooth muscle contraction, cell division, and migration. Their work integrates cell biology, biochemistry, and pharmacology to explore the roles of Rho GTPases in both normal physiology and diseases such as vascular disorders, glaucoma, and cancer metastasis.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
The small guanosine triphosphatase Rho is implicated in myosin light chain (MLC) phosphorylation, which results in contraction of smooth muscle and interaction of actin and myosin in nonmuscle cells. The guanosine triphosphate (GTP)-bound, active form of RhoA (GTP.RhoA) specifically interacted with the myosin-binding subunit (MBS) of myosin phosphatase, which regulates the extent of phosphorylation of MLC. Rho-associated kinase (Rho-kinase), which is activated by GTP.RhoA, phosphorylated MBS and
The small guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) Rho is implicated in the formation of stress fibers and focal adhesions in fibroblasts stimulated by extracellular signals such as lysophosphatidic acid (LPA). Rho-kinase is activated by Rho and may mediate some biological effects of Rho. Microinjection of the catalytic domain of Rho-kinase into serum-starved Swiss 3T3 cells induced the formation of stress fibers and focal adhesions, whereas microinjection of the inactive catalytic domain, the Rho-bind
Members of the Rho family of small Ras-like GTPases--including RhoA, -B, and -C, Rac1 and -2, and Cdc42--exhibit guanine nucleotide-binding activity and function as molecular switches, cycling between an inactive GDP-bound state and an active GTP-bound state. The Rho family GTPases participate in regulation of the actin cytoskeleton and cell adhesion through specific targets. Identification and characterization of these targets have begun to clarify how the Rho family GTPases act to regulate cyt
Rho-associated kinase (Rho-kinase/ROCK/ROK) is an effector of the small GTPase Rho and belongs to the AGC family of kinases. Rho-kinase has pleiotropic functions including the regulation of cellular contraction, motility, morphology, polarity, cell division, and gene expression. Pharmacological analyses have revealed that Rho-kinase is involved in a wide range of diseases such as vasospasm, pulmonary hypertension, nerve injury, and glaucoma, and is therefore considered to be a potential therapeu
When human platelets were stimulated by synthetic diacylglycerol such as 1-oleoyl-2-acetyl-glycerol, which was a potent activator in vitro of Ca2+-activated, phospholipid-dependent protein kinase (protein kinase C) (Mori, T., Takai, Y., Yu, B., Takahashi, J., Nishizuka, Y., and Fujikura, T. (1982) J. Biochem. (Tokyo) 91, 427-431), a protein having Mr approximately 40,000 (40-kilodalton protein) was rapidly phosphorylated, just as it was by natural extracellular messengers such as thrombin. Finge
The small guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) Cdc42 and Rac1 regulate E-cadherin-mediated cell-cell adhesion. IQGAP1, a target of Cdc42 and Rac1, was localized with E-cadherin and beta-catenin at sites of cell-cell contact in mouse L fibroblasts expressing E-cadherin (EL cells), and interacted with E-cadherin and beta-catenin both in vivo and in vitro. IQGAP1 induced the dissociation of alpha-catenin from a cadherin-catenin complex in vitro and in vivo. Overexpression of IQGAP1 in EL cells, but
Rho, a Ras-like small guanosine triphosphatase, has been implicated in cytoskeletal responses to extracellular signals such as lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) to form stress fibers and focal contacts. The form of RhoA bound to guanosine triphosphate directly bound to and activated a serine-threonine kinase, protein kinase N (PKN). Activated RhoA formed a complex with PKN and activated it in COS-7 cells. PKN was phosphorylated in Swiss 3T3 cells stimulated with LPA, and this phosphorylation was block
Although phosphatidylserine is the sole phospholipid effective for the activation of Ca2+-activated, phospholipid-dependent protein kinase in the presence of a small amount of unsaturated diacylglycerol and micromolar concentrations of Ca2+ (Takai, Y., Kishimoto, A., Kikkawa, U., Mori, T., and Nishizuka, Y. (1979) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 91, 1218-1224), other species of phospholipids modulate the activation of enzyme considerably. When phosphatidylserine is supplemented with phosphatidyle
Adducin is a membrane skeletal protein that binds to actin filaments (F-actin) and thereby promotes the association of spectrin with F-actin to form a spectrin-actin meshwork beneath plasma membranes such as ruffling membranes. Rho-associated kinase (Rho- kinase), which is activated by the small guanosine triphosphatase Rho, phosphorylates alpha-adducin and thereby enhances the F-actin-binding activity of alpha-adducin in vitro. Here we identified the sites of phosphorylation of alpha-adducin by
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