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Encyclopedia of Signaling Molecules pp 4681–4691Cite as

RhoA

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Synonyms

Aplysia Ras-related homolog 12; ARH12; ARHA; Ras homolog family, member A

Historical Background

RhoA was identified as a homolog of small GTPase Ras in a study using a cDNA library from mollusk Aplysia, hence its first name Aplysia Ras-related Homolog (ARH) 12 (Madaule and Axel 1985). RhoA, along with very related RhoB and RhoC, constitute the Rho subfamily of GTPases within the superfamily of Ras-related small GTPases and are found in all eukaryotic cells (Jaffe and Hall 2005). RhoA gene is located on chromosome 1 3p21.3 and, given that it is longer and contains more exons and introns, has been suggested to be the ancestor of both RhoC and RhoB (Wheeler and Ridley 2004), which evolved as duplication (RhoC) or reverse transcription (RhoB) from RhoA (Boureux et al. 2007; Wheeler and Ridley 2004). In line with this hypothesis, orthologs of RhoA, but not RhoC or RhoB, are found in nonvertebrates (Boureux et al. 2007). At the protein level, RhoA and RhoC are around 90% identical,...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics, King’s College London, London, UK

    Jose L. Orgaz & Victoria Sanz-Moreno

Authors
  1. Jose L. Orgaz
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  2. Victoria Sanz-Moreno
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Victoria Sanz-Moreno .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Science and Technology, Ajou University, Suwon, Korea

    Sangdun Choi

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Orgaz, J.L., Sanz-Moreno, V. (2018). RhoA. In: Choi, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Signaling Molecules. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67199-4_101793

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