CED-12
Encyclopedia
CED-12 is the C. elegans
ortholog of the ELMO
family of mammalian adaptor protein
s. It interacts with CED-5 (the C. elegans ortholog of mammalian Dock180) to form a bipartite guanine nucleotide exchange factor
which promotes cell migration
and phagocytosis of apoptotic cells.
Caenorhabditis elegans
Caenorhabditis elegans is a free-living, transparent nematode , about 1 mm in length, which lives in temperate soil environments. Research into the molecular and developmental biology of C. elegans was begun in 1974 by Sydney Brenner and it has since been used extensively as a model...
ortholog of the ELMO
ELMO (protein)
ELMO is a family of related proteins involved in intracellular signalling networks. These proteins have no intrinsic catalytic activity and instead function as adaptors which can regulate the activity of other proteins through their ability to mediate protein-protein interactions.This family...
family of mammalian adaptor protein
Adaptor protein
Signal transducing adaptor proteins are proteins which are accessory to main proteins in a signal transduction pathway. These proteins tend to lack any intrinsic enzymatic activity themselves but instead mediate specific protein–protein interactions that drive the formation of protein complexes...
s. It interacts with CED-5 (the C. elegans ortholog of mammalian Dock180) to form a bipartite guanine nucleotide exchange factor
Guanine nucleotide exchange factor
Guanine nucleotide exchange factors activate monomeric GTPases by stimulating the release of guanosine diphosphate to allow binding of guanosine triphosphate . A variety of unrelated structural domains have been shown to exhibit guanine nucleotide exchange activity...
which promotes cell migration
Cell migration
Cell migration is a central process in the development and maintenance of multicellular organisms. Tissue formation during embryonic development, wound healing and immune responses all require the orchestrated movement of cells in particular directions to specific locations...
and phagocytosis of apoptotic cells.