Biochemical Assays to Detect Activation of Small GTPases Rho, Rac, and Cdc42 during Morphogenesis

Mark L Berns; Raymond Habas

doi:10.1007/978-1-0716-2035-9_5

Biochemical Assays to Detect Activation of Small GTPases Rho, Rac, and Cdc42 during Morphogenesis

Methods Mol Biol. 2022:2438:83-95. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2035-9_5.

Authors

Mark L Berns¹, Raymond Habas²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biology, College of Science and Technology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA. mark.berns@temple.edu.
² Department of Biology, College of Science and Technology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA. habas@temple.edu.

PMID: 35147936
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2035-9_5

Abstract

Wnt/Frizzled (Fz) signaling controls developmental, physiological, and pathological processes through several distinct pathways. Wnt/Fz activation of the small GTPases Rho, Rac, and Cdc42, is one key mechanism that regulates cell polarity and migration during vertebrate gastrulation. In this chapter, we describe biochemical assays for detection of Wnt/Fz-mediated activation of Rho, Rac and Cdc42 in both mammalian cells and Xenopus embryo explants.

Keywords: Cdc42; Gastrulation; Noncanonical Wnt signaling; Rac; Rho; Xenopus.

MeSH terms

Animals
Cell Polarity / physiology
Monomeric GTP-Binding Proteins* / metabolism
Morphogenesis
Wnt Proteins* / metabolism
Wnt Signaling Pathway
cdc42 GTP-Binding Protein / metabolism
rac GTP-Binding Proteins / metabolism
rho GTP-Binding Proteins / metabolism

Substances

Wnt Proteins
Monomeric GTP-Binding Proteins
cdc42 GTP-Binding Protein
rac GTP-Binding Proteins
rho GTP-Binding Proteins