Identification and molecular characterization of the G alpha12-Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor pathway in Caenorhabditis elegans.

G alpha 12/13-mediated pathways have been shown to be involved in various fundamental cellular functions in mammalian cells such as axonal guidance, apoptosis, and chemotaxis. Here, we identified a homologue of Rho-guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) in Caenorhabditis elegans (CeRhoGEF), which functions downstream of gpa-12, the C. elegans homologue of G alpha 12/13. CeRhoGEF contains a PSD-95/Dlg/ZO-1 domain and a regulator of G protein signaling (RGS) domain upstream of the Dbl homology-pleckstrin homology region similar to mammalian RhoGEFs with RGS domains, PSD-95/Dlg/ZO-1-RhoGEF and leukemia-associated RhoGEF. It has been shown in mammalian cells that these RhoGEFs interact with activated forms of G alpha 12 or G alpha 13 through their RGS domains. We demonstrated by coimmunoprecipitation that the RGS domain of CeRhoGEF interacts with GPA-12 in an AIF4- activation-dependent manner and confirmed that the Dbl homology-pleckstrin homology domain of CeRhoGEF was capable of Rho-dependent signaling. These results proved conservation of the G alpha 12-RhoGEF pathway in C. elegans. Expression of DsRed or GFP under the control of the promoter of CeRhoGEF or gpa-12 revealed an overlap of their expression patterns in ventral cord motor neurons and several neurons in the head. RNA-mediated gene interference for CeRhoGEF and gpa-12 resulted in similar phenotypes such as embryonic lethality and sensory and locomotive defects in adults. Thus, the G alpha 12/13-RhoGEF pathway is likely to be involved in embryonic development and neuronal function in C. elegans.