Regulation of morphology by rho p21 and its inhibitory GDP/GTP exchange protein (rho GDI) in Swiss 3T3 cells.

rho GDP dissociation inhibitor (GDI) is an inhibitory GDP/GTP exchange protein for a group of small GTP-binding proteins including at least rhoA p21, rhoB p21, rac1 p21, rac2 p21, and G25K. Microinjection of rho GDI into Swiss 3T3 cells made the cells round and refractile. This morphological change was accompanied by the disappearance of stress fibers. The rho GDI action was prevented by comicroinjection of rho GDI with the guanosine 5'-(3-O-thio)triphosphate (GTP gamma S)-bound form of rhoA p21, but not with the GTP gamma S-bound form of rhoA p21 lacking the C-terminal three amino acids, which was not post-translationally modified with lipids. The GTP gamma S-bound form of rac1 p21, the same form of G25K, the same form of smg p21B, or Ki-rasval12 p21 was ineffective. Microinjection of the bacterial ADP-ribosyltransferase C3 specific for rho p21 into Swiss 3T3 cells induced the similar changes of morphology and stress fibers. This C3 action was not prevented by comicroinjection of C3 with the GTP gamma S-bound form of rhoA p21, but was prevented by comicroinjection with the same form of a rhoA p21 mutant which was not ADP-ribosylated by C3. These results indicate that the rho GDI-rho p21 system regulates cell morphology presumably through the actomyosin system in Swiss 3T3 cells.