Fig. 1

RHO GTPase family. The unrooted phylogenetic tree of the RHO GTPase family was based on the Clustal Omega program alignment of the amino-acid sequences of the 20 RHO GTPase proteins. RHO GTPases can be classified into eight subfamilies: RHO, RAC, CDC42, RHODF, RHOUV, RND, RHOH and RHOBTB. These subfamilies are highlighted with circles and labeled on the right side. The classical RHO GTPases include four subfamilies: RHO, RAC, CDC42 and RHODF, which are regulated by the GDP/GTP cycle. The atypical RHO GTPases comprise the RHOUV, RND, RHOH and RHOBTB subfamilies. These GTPases are regulated by gene expression, localization, phosphorylation, and/or protein stability and not by GEF and GAP