Evidence map›Paper›PMID 18948008›Full record

ArticleCurrent biology : CB2008

Spatiotemporal regulation of Ras activity provides directional sensing.

Sheng Zhang, Pascale G Charest, Richard A Firtel

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Current biology : CB, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 79 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
79citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
3.4field-weighted citation impact, top 7% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

79 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 114 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Loss of Copine D Leads to Ras Activation inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Ras-mediated dynamic and biphasic regulation of cell migration.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. Spontaneous signal generation by an excitable system for cell migration.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2024
    Review
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. Article
  18. Ras inhibitor CAPRI enables neutrophil-like cells to chemotax through a higher-concentration range of gradients.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021
    Article
  19. Forty-five years of cGMP research inMolecular biology of the cell · 2021
    Review
  20. Membrane Targeting of C2GAP1 EnablesFrontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2021
    Article

19 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Sheng Zhang *Section of Cell and Developmental Biology Division of Biological Sciences Center for Molecular Genetics University of California, San Diego 9500 Gilman Drive La Jolla, CA 92093-0380 USA.
Pascale G Charest *Section of Cell and Developmental Biology Division of Biological Sciences Center for Molecular Genetics University of California, San Diego 9500 Gilman Drive La Jolla, CA 92093-0380 USA.
Richard A FirtelSection of Cell and Developmental Biology Division of Biological Sciences Center for Molecular Genetics University of California, San Diego 9500 Gilman Drive La Jolla, CA 92093-0380 USA.
University of California, San Diego · US

Funding

SIGNALLING PROCESSES IN DICTYOSTELIUMR01GM037830 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI FIRTEL, RICHARD A · 1986 to 2015
$8.5M
Quantitative Analysis of Chemotactic Motility Cycle of Ameboid CellsR01GM084227 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI DEL ALAMO, JUAN CARLOS, FIRTEL, RICHARD A · 2010 to 2018
$2.7M
NIGMS NIH HHS R01 GM037830NIGMS NIH HHS R01 GM084227
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Cells' ability to detect and orient themselves in chemoattractant gradients has been the subject of numerous studies, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown [1]. Ras activation is the earliest polarized response to chemoattractant gradients downstream from heterotrimeric G proteins in Dictyostelium, and inhibition of Ras signaling results in directional migration defects [2]. Activated Ras is enriched at the leading edge, promoting the localized activation of key chemotactic effectors, such as PI3K and TORC2 [2-5]. To investigate the role of Ras in directional sensing, we studied the effect of its misregulation by using cells with disrupted RasGAP activity. We identified an ortholog of mammalian NF1, DdNF1, as a major regulator of Ras activity in Dictyostelium. We show that disruption of nfaA leads to spatially and temporally unregulated Ras activity, causing cytokinesis and chemotaxis defects. By using unpolarized, latrunculin-treated cells, we show that tight regulation of Ras is important for gradient sensing. Together, our findings suggest that Ras is part of the cell's compass and that the RasGAP-mediated regulation of Ras activity affects directional sensing.

Indexed as

AnimalsChemotactic FactorsChemotaxisDictyosteliumGene Expression RegulationGenes, ProtozoanGenes, rasNeurofibromin 1Phosphatidylinositol 3-KinasesProtozoan Proteinsras ProteinsChemotactic FactorsNeurofibromin 1Phosphatidylinositol 3-KinasesProtozoan ProteinsrasG protein, Dictyosteliumras Proteins

Identifiers

PMID18948008
PMCPMC2590931
OpenAlexW1978764703

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.