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The Caenorhabditis elegans homologue of the proto‐oncogene ect‐2 positively regulates RAS signalling during vulval development
Author(s) -
Canevascini Stefano,
Marti Mark,
Fröhli Erika,
Hajnal Alex
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
embo reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.584
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1469-3178
pISSN - 1469-221X
DOI - 10.1038/sj.embor.7400574
Subject(s) - caenorhabditis elegans , biology , guanine nucleotide exchange factor , microbiology and biotechnology , mapk/erk pathway , cytokinesis , anti apoptotic ras signalling cascade , mapk cascade , kinase , effector , genetics , gtp' , function (biology) , signal transduction , cell division , cell , biochemistry , gene , enzyme
Guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) regulate the activity of small GTP‐binding proteins in a variety of biological processes. We have identified a gain‐of‐function mutation in the Caenorhabditis elegans GEF ect‐2 , the homologue of the mammalian ect2 proto‐oncogene that has an essential role during cytokinesis. Here, we report that, in addition to its known function during mitosis, ECT‐2 promotes the specification of the primary vulval cell fate by activating RAS/mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling before the end of the S‐phase. Epistasis analysis indicates that ECT‐2 crosstalks to the canonical RAS/MAPK cascade upstream of the RAS GEF SOS‐1 by means of a RHO‐1 signalling pathway. Our results raise the possibility that the transforming activity of the mammalian ect‐2 oncogene could be due to hyperactivation of the RAS/MAPK pathway.