ArticleeLife2025
Optogenetic control of a GEF of RhoA uncovers a signaling switch from retraction to protrusion.
Article in eLife, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Cytoskeletal disassembly by optogenetic control of RhoA signaling termination.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Illuminating cancer therapy: The translational path of optogenetics.Bioactive materials · 2026Review
- Local RhoA activation induces anillin-independent septin recruitment in interphase cells.Molecular biology of the cell · 2026Article
- Building the bridges: molecular mechanisms of tunneling nanotube formation.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2026Review
- Optogenetic Tools for Spatiotemporal Interrogation of Cytoskeletal Dynamics.Bioconjugate chemistry · 2026Review
- Optogenetic BlueGENEs engineered into a human safe harbor locus.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- Spatiotemporal coupling of caveolae mechanosensing and RhoA-GEFs regulates cell polarity and directional migration.Nature communications · 2025Article
- A Modular Platform for the Optogenetic Control of Small GTPase Activity in Living Cells Reveals Long-Range RhoA Signaling.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Local RhoA activation induces septin recruitment.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Optogenetic control of a GEF of RhoA uncovers a signaling switch from retraction to protrusion.eLife · 2025Article
- The biochemical mechanism of Rho GTPase membrane binding, activation and retention in activity patterning.The EMBO journal · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The ability of a single protein to trigger different functions is an assumed key feature of cell signaling, yet there are very few examples demonstrating it. Here, using an optogenetic tool to control membrane localization of RhoA nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs), we present a case where the same protein can trigger both protrusion and retraction when recruited to the plasma membrane, polarizing the cell in two opposite directions. We show that the basal concentration of the GEF prior to activation predicts the resulting phenotype. A low concentration leads to retraction, whereas a high concentration triggers protrusion. This unexpected protruding behavior arises from the simultaneous activation of Cdc42 by the GEF and sequestration of active RhoA by the GEF PH domain at high concentrations. We propose a minimal model that recapitulates the phenotypic switch, and we use its predictions to control the two phenotypes within selected cells by adjusting the frequency of light pulses. Our work exemplifies a unique case of control of antagonist phenotypes by a single protein that switches its function based on its concentration or dynamics of activity. It raises numerous open questions about the link between signaling protein and function, particularly in contexts where proteins are highly overexpressed, as often observed in cancer.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.