Last week, we reported on a breakthrough in cell locomotion. Today, there’s news about a key protein involved in stopping cell movement — a relative of calmodulin called CIB1:
In illustrating the role that CIB1 plays in cell migration and PAK1 activation, the authors used a new method known as RNAi or RNA interference to knock down or reduce CIB1 expression in various cell lines. Cells with less CIB1 had less PAK1 activation and migrated faster. The authors also showed that the more CIB1 these cells had, the less likely they were to move.
So, another breakthrough made possible by RNAi. The authors elaborated on how this protein fits in known signaling pathways:
“CIB1 activates PAK1 before Rac and Cdc42,” said Dr. Leslie V. Parise, UNC professor of pharmacology, member of UNC Lineberger and the study’s senior author.
“The time course of PAK1 activation never synched up with the time course of Rac and Cdc42 activation; now we know why — it was probably CIB1 that was activating PAK1 and not the Ras relatives.”
Got that?
More from Dr. Parise’s Lab Page…