IntroductionHematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are defined by their unique ability to give rise to all mature immune and blood cell lineages while at the same time regenerating themselves in a process termed "self-renewal" to sustain hematopoiesis throughout life. In addition, HSCs traffic throughout the body and possess the ability to reconstitute all hematopoietic lineages on transplantation into lethally irradiated mice, characteristics that have been used in therapeutic stem cell transplantation. [1][2][3] To maintain an adequate number of both mature blood cells and HSCs, the quality and quantity of HSC divisions must be tightly controlled. 4,5 Several regulatory pathways that play a role in the maintenance of HSC functions have been identified; these include both cell-intrinsic and extrinsic factors. For example, signaling through integrins, stem cell factor, thrombopoietin, angiopoietin, and transforming growth factor- regulate HSC properties. [6][7][8][9] Cell-cycle regulators, p21 Cip1 , p16 Ink4a , p18 Ink4c , and p57 Kip2 , and proteins that control transcription, such as HoxB4, c-myc, FOXO, Zfx, Tel, Gfi-1, Pbx-1, or epigenetic factor, Bmi-1, and Ezh2, 4,5,[10][11][12][13][14][15] are essential for HSC functions. A fundamental issue in HSC biology is to understand how these programs are regulated and to exploit this knowledge for the development of HSC-based therapies for therapeutic purposes.Members of the Rho GTPase family operate as molecular switches to effect signaling downstream of numerous receptors, including integrins, chemokines and cytokine receptors. 16,17 Most canonical Rho GTPases cycle between an active guanosine triphosphate (GTP)-bound and an inactive guanosine diphosphate (GDP)-bound state. This GDP-GTP cycle is tightly regulated by 3 families of proteins. Guanine nucleotide exchange factors promote the exchange of GDP for GTP, whereas GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs) accelerate the rate of hydrolysis of GTP. In addition, guanine nucleotide dissociation inhibitors may interfere with GTP binding by preventing membrane localization of the protein. Of the 20 Rho GTPases currently known, the best studied Rho GTPases are Rho, Rac, and Cdc42, which are crucial regulators of cytoskeleton dynamics, cell migration, adhesion, and cell-cycle progression. As such, Rho GTPases regulate a broad variety of cellular processes in many mammalian cells, including in hematopoietic cells. [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] Whereas the role of Rho GTPases in cell functions has begun to be understood, the role of GAPs and guanine nucleotide exchange factors in vivo has been understudied. Because more than 70 RhoGAPs have been identified in eukaryotes, the RhoGAPs outnumber the Rho GTPases that they regulate. 24 Some GAPs show preferential tissue expression and appear to have tissuespecific functions. Moreover, each GAP can regulate a restricted number of Rho GTPase signaling pathways. 25 Finally, the presence of several functional domains suggests that GAPs may mediate signaling pathways that are not limite...