IQGAP1 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Ras GTPase-activating-like protein IQGAP1 (IQGAP1) also known as p195 is a ubiquitously expressed protein

Protein

Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...

that in humans is encoded by the IQGAP1 gene

Gene

A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...

. IQGAP1 is a scaffold protein

Scaffold protein

In biology, scaffold proteins are crucial regulators of many key signaling pathways. Although scaffolds are not strictly defined in function, they are known to interact and/or bind with multiple members of a signaling pathway, tethering them into complexes...

involved in regulating various cellular processes ranging from organization of the actin

Actin

Actin is a globular, roughly 42-kDa moonlighting protein found in all eukaryotic cells where it may be present at concentrations of over 100 μM. It is also one of the most highly-conserved proteins, differing by no more than 20% in species as diverse as algae and humans...

cytoskeleton

Cytoskeleton

The cytoskeleton is a cellular "scaffolding" or "skeleton" contained within a cell's cytoplasm and is made out of protein. The cytoskeleton is present in all cells; it was once thought to be unique to eukaryotes, but recent research has identified the prokaryotic cytoskeleton...

, transcription, and cellular adhesion

Cell adhesion

Cellular adhesion is the binding of a cell to a surface, extracellular matrix or another cell using cell adhesion molecules such as selectins, integrins, and cadherins. Correct cellular adhesion is essential in maintaining multicellular structure...

to regulating the cell cycle

Cell cycle

The cell cycle, or cell-division cycle, is the series of events that takes place in a cell leading to its division and duplication . In cells without a nucleus , the cell cycle occurs via a process termed binary fission...

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IQGAP1 was discovered in 1994.
Its name stems from the fact that its RasGAP-related domain (GRD) has sequence homology to the Sar1 GTPase.