These signaling pathways are the most widely used and highly conserved in nature. In adult humans, G protein signaling pathways control many physiological processes by mediating the effects of an enormous array of neuromodulators, sensory stimuli, chemoattractants and hormones.
G protein signaling pathways are also crucially important during mammalian development.
Studies of G protein signaling continue to reveal fundamental new principles of cell-cell communication, and lead to the understanding of disease mechanisms and the development of novel therapies. Over the last few years, we have made novel insights into the mechanisms that control the activation and trafficking of G protein coupled receptors, discovered RGS proteins and showed that they negatively regulate signaling by accelerating G protein deactivation, and demonstrated that PAK family kinases are effectors in G protein signaling pathways that mediate cell polarization and morphogenesis. Current work is aimed at further elucidating how receptors and G proteins are activated and regulated, how RGS proteins regulate specific types of G protein signaling pathways, and how PAK family kinases regulate cell polarity via the actin cytoskeleton. Genetics, biochemistry, microscopy and molecular biology are being used to address these questions. Overton, M.C. and K. J. Blumer.