Abstract
The Caenorhabditis elegans genome contains three rac-like genes, ced-10, mig-2, and rac-2. We report that ced-10, mig-2 and rac-2 act redundantly in axon pathfinding: inactivating one gene had little effect, but inactivating two or more genes perturbed both axon outgrowth and guidance. mig-2 and ced-10 also have redundant functions in some cell migrations. By contrast, ced-10 is uniquely required for cell-corpse phagocytosis, and mig-2 and rac-2 have only subtle roles in this process. Rac activators are also used differentially. The UNC-73 Trio Rac GTP exchange factor affected all Rac pathways in axon pathfinding and cell migration but did not affect cell-corpse phagocytosis. CED-5 DOCK180, which acts with CED-10 Rac in cell-corpse phagocytosis, acted with MIG-2 but not CED-10 in axon pathfinding. Thus, distinct regulatory proteins modulate Rac activation and function in different developmental processes.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
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Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
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Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
MeSH terms
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Amino Acid Sequence
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Animals
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Apoptosis
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Axons / physiology*
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Caenorhabditis elegans / embryology*
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Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / genetics
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Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / metabolism*
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Cell Differentiation
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Cell Movement*
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GTP-Binding Proteins / genetics
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GTP-Binding Proteins / metabolism
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Helminth Proteins / genetics
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Helminth Proteins / metabolism
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Models, Biological
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Molecular Sequence Data
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Multigene Family
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Nerve Tissue Proteins / metabolism
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Nervous System / embryology
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Phagocytosis*
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RAC2 GTP-Binding Protein
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Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
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rac GTP-Binding Proteins / genetics
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rac GTP-Binding Proteins / metabolism*
Substances
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CED-10 protein, C elegans
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Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins
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Helminth Proteins
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Nerve Tissue Proteins
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UNC-73 protein, C elegans
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GTP-Binding Proteins
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Mig-2 protein, C elegans
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rac GTP-Binding Proteins