Rho GTPase Activating Protein 12 (ARHGAP12)

RHO GTPases that participate in a wide variety of cellular processes are active in their GTP-bound form and inactive in their GDP-bound form. The hydrolysis of GTP and the inactivation of these GTPases are regulated by GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs), such as ARHGAP12. Transcripts encoding both variants utilize alternate polyadenylation signals. Northern blot analysis detected a double band of about 4 kb in all 8 tumor cell lines examined. RT-PCR detected both ARHGAP12 transcripts in lung, kidney, liver, brain, and pancreas, with higher levels of ARHGAP12a than ARHGAP12b in kidney, liver, brain, and pancreas. Only ARHGAP12a was detected in heart. By phylogenetic analysis, Peck et al. (2002) determined that the GAP domain of ARHGAP12 is most closely related to the GAP domain of ARHGAP9.