Lu Y, Settleman J
Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown 02129, USA.
Mol Cell Biol Res Commun. 1999 May;1(2):87-94. doi: 10.1006/mcbr.1999.0119.
It has become increasingly clear in the last few years that the Rho family GTPases regulate cytoskeleton rearrangements that are essential for a variety of morphogenetic events associated with the development of multicellular organisms. In particular, Drosophila has provided an excellent in vivo system for deciphering the signaling pathways mediated by Rho GTPases, as well as establishing the role of these pathways in numerous developmental processes. Continued use of this system will undoubtedly lead to the identification of additional Rho signalling components and information regarding the function and organization of the Rho signaling pathways in tissue morphogenesis. The striking similarity between Drosophila and mammalian Rho signaling components identified thus far indicates that the Rho pathways are highly conserved in evolution. Therefore, the findings from the Drosophila system can be extrapolated to higher organisms, including humans. Combined with the rapid progress in the human and Drosophila genome projects, these findings should contribute greatly to our understanding of mammalian Rho GTPase signaling pathways and their roles in normal development and pathological conditions.
在过去几年中，越来越清楚的是，Rho家族GTP酶调节细胞骨架重排，而细胞骨架重排对于与多细胞生物体发育相关的各种形态发生事件至关重要。特别是，果蝇为破译由Rho GTP酶介导的信号通路以及确定这些通路在众多发育过程中的作用提供了一个出色的体内系统。继续使用这个系统无疑将导致鉴定出更多的Rho信号成分，以及有关Rho信号通路在组织形态发生中的功能和组织的信息。到目前为止，果蝇和哺乳动物Rho信号成分之间惊人的相似性表明，Rho通路在进化中高度保守。因此，果蝇系统的研究结果可以外推到包括人类在内的高等生物。结合人类和果蝇基因组计划的快速进展，这些发现应该会极大地促进我们对哺乳动物Rho GTP酶信号通路及其在正常发育和病理状况中的作用的理解。
